


When All I Know Is You

by FollowTheFirefly



Series: Guardians on the Mountain [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Friends, Deities, Friends to Lovers, Guardians - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Music, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Original Mythology, Slow Burn, on temporary hiatus while I deal with life issues, very slow updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 06:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9111505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowTheFirefly/pseuds/FollowTheFirefly
Summary: In which Hinata doesn't expect to fall for Kei in their roles as the sun and moon guardians, nor does he expect a centuries-old curse to change so much.





	1. Flying Into This Future

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm not quite sure how I came up with this one. I really don't ship TsukiHina at all, but this just sort of punched me in the face and demanded to be written. I've never written anything like this before and I'm very nervous to see how it'll turn out, even though I've already handwritten the first three and a half chapters. This chapter and chapter two will be a bit shorter than the others, but I plan on future chapters past that being much longer. 
> 
> I was listening to "The Future Is Now" by Starset when I got the idea for this, which is where the chapter title comes from. The story title is a line from "Let It Die", which was the first Starset song I heard. All of the chapter titles will be lines from Starset songs, which will be difficult since they only have one album. But I imagine that this story is more like the lines from "Dark On Me" and "Let It Die". I highly suggest listening to some of the songs while reading this story not only because they're an amazing band, but because it enhance the story experience. 
> 
> Enough with my rantings, enjoy the first chapter.

“Hinata, wake up! You can’t be late! You’ll get in huge trouble if you don’t show up for the sunrise!”

He figured that his sister would wake him up for his first day as the sun guardian, but he didn’t expect the night to be that short. Not that he’d really slept much anyway. Nervousness kept him awake and Hinata found himself staring out the window most of the night, watching the clouds float across the moon. The role of the sun guardian was one he’d been expected to fill his whole life, but no one had expected to fill it so soon at such a young age. 

When he didn’t wake up right away, Natsu started poking him in the stomach.

“Hi-na-ta!”

“Cut it out, Natsu.” Hinata curled up in a ball. “And why are you using my last name?”

“Mom says you have to get up.” Natsu jumped off of Hinata’s bed and bounced out of the room, leaving Hinata behind to wake up in the dark.

Or to fall back asleep.

“Shoyo!” Natsu was back five minutes later and threw a pillow at her sleeping brother.

“Okay, okay.” Hinata relented and sat up, blinking as Natsu turned on the light and dashed back to her room.

He dressed rather quickly, knowing that he really would be late if he didn’t hurry. Deciding to skip breakfast entirely, he grabbed the bento box from the fridge and dashed out the door, jumping on his bike at the end of the sidewalk and making his way up the street.

Karasuno was a sort of oddball village, as Hinata liked to call it. They were in a modern age, but the town looked like it had never caught up with the times. Village elders still governed the people and while there were doctors that had successful practices, many were also accompanied by spirit mediums that knew the mythology of the old days and how important the guardians were to everyday life. Hinata’s family had been sun guardians for generations and when his father was alive, Hinata would frequently go with him when he visited the village elders and would sit in on their meetings. More often than not, Hinata would fall asleep, but since he was the next in line to become the sun guardians, it was Hinata’s job to watch the sun and prevent any disasters from occurring.

Or rather, he had been the next in line. As of that morning, he was the sun guardian and would be until his dying day.

There had been a sort of unspoken agreement between the sun and moon guardians over the centuries: if the sun was in danger, the moon guardian would help defend it. And similarly, Hinata would help the moon guardian if any trouble befell the moon.

The elders had told him where to go: the top of the tallest mountain where the peak was past the highest cloud in the sky. He had a simple enough job: watch over the world as the sun god and protect the life on the planet. It only became more complicated when something went wrong and Hinata hoped that wouldn’t happen for a long time.

To anyone living outside the village, it probably sounded strange that he was the sun guardian, but it made perfect sense to him. After all, the word sun was in his name. And it was a well-known fact in Karasuno that the guardians existed and watched over the world below the mountains.

Hinata managed to race up the mountain at record time and soon reached the peak. He’d known that he would be taking over for the moon guardian, but he was taken aback when he saw a small boy sitting on the ground staring up at the clouds.

Though in reality, small was the last word Hinata should have used to describe the boy. He was quite a bit taller than Hinata was, with black glasses covering the golden eyes that watched the clouds in the sky. He had a curious expression on his face and he seemed to be lost in a world of his own. 

“Wait, you’re the moon guardian?” Hinata asked a bit too bluntly, jumping off his bike and letting it fall to the ground past the mountain slope.

The boy turned and looked back at Hinata, the eyes tired and frustrated.

“You’re late.”

“I overslept.” Hinata grinned sheepishly.

“Don’t.” the boy glared at Hinata. “I’m stuck here until you get here. Don’t you know that there must always be someone guarding this mountain?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t coming.” Hinata shot back, noticing how differently the boy spoke from him and wondered if they were even the same age.

“Some nerve.” The boy sighed as he stood up, walking over to Hinata. “But I guess I should be glad you’re here at all.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Hinata had been trying to start things off right, but the chances of that happening were plummeting rapidly. “If you don’t like me, you can just leave, you know.”

“Sunrise.” The boy stared incredulously. “Honestly, don’t you pay any attention at all?”

“I just forgot.” Hinata ignored the boy and walked over to the mountainside, sitting down so his feet were dangling over the edge.

After a few minutes, Hinata heard the other boy sigh. Soon he was sitting next to Hinata, staring out across the cliff.

“Might as well get used to it.” He shrugged. “We’ll be doing this for the rest of our lives.” 

“Don’t sound so happy about it.” Hinata made a face before he changed the subject. “I’m Hinata Shoyo, by the way.”

“Okay.” The boy clearly wanted as little to do with Hinata as possible.

“Don’t you think we should at least know each other’s names?” Hinata scooted back and pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Why?” the boy looked perplexed. “It’s not like we’ll be working together or anything.”

“We will during sunrises and sunsets.” Hinata pointed out. 

The boy sighed again and looked back out to the clouds and the sky, growing brighter every minute as the sun rose.

“Kei.” He answered finally. “Tsukishima Kei.”

“Oh, like firefly?” He had no idea why Hinata was so impressed by this. “That’s cool! And I guess your last name makes sense since you’re the moon guardian.” 

“My family has been moon guardians for generations.” Kei said in a bored voice. “I’m only eight, but I’m stuck with it.”

“We’re the same age?” Hinata cocked his head to the side.

“If you’re eight too.” Kei shrugged.

“I’m the oldest.” Hinata shook his head. “Natsu’s too little to do it.”

“My older brother was the moon guardian before me.” Kei said in a pained voice and Hinata realized why Kei had been so irritated when he was late.

“I’m sorry.” Hinata said slowly. “I know what happened, but I didn’t know he was your brother.”

“So the sun guardian was…” Kei didn’t want to assume.

“My dad, yeah.” Hinata felt his heart clench in his chest. “He always had kind things to say about your brother, though. He wanted me to meet him someday.”

“Thanks.” Kei nodded.

“We’ll have to do our best for them, huh Kei?” Hinata looked back at the blond boy.

“Why are you using my first name?” Kei arched an eyebrow. “We’ve only just met.”

“But your last name is so long.” Hinata whined. “Kei is such a cool name anyhow! And it’s cute just like you!”

“Wait, what?” Kei’s eyes grew wide. “Did you just call me cute?”

“I like your name.” Hinata said simply. 

“Just call me Tsukishima, all right?” Kei stood and stretched. “Time for me to head back. I’ll see you later tonight.”

“See you later, Kei!” Hinata waved back as Kei made his way down the mountain.

“It’s Tsukishima!”


	2. Making The Past An Unreachable Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the title for this one comes from "The Point Of No Return". I know I haven't had the first chapter up for very long, but I hope it's at least a little bit enjoyable. I know this chapter is short, but I've already handwritten the third chapter and its a lot longer than I intended for it to be and it'll be a bit longer than this one.

Hinata still called him Kei when he came back that night. And again when Hinata showed up for the sunrise. Kei figured he could tell him again, but if Hinata hadn’t listened the last few times, why would he listen now?

“Everyone keeps talking about it.” Hinata said one day a year later as they sat on the mountain, watching the sunset. “About how my dad and your brother stopped the planet from spinning off orbit because of the meteor and crashing into the sun.” He stared out at the sky and said, “It’s been a year, so why do they still talk about it?”

Kei bit his lip and remained silent. He hated thinking about it. His brother had taken over as the moon guardian when Kei was only two and now he’d lost both his brother and his father. He was beginning to think that all moon guardians had short lives.

“But I guess it’s a good thing they stopped it or else we’d all be dead by now.” Hinata added.

“We’ll probably be dead soon anyway.” Kei’s voice sounded hollow.

“Huh?” Hinata stared at Kei.

“My brother was only the moon guardian for a few years after my dad died.” Kei went on. “How do we know we’d live longer than they did? How do we know any more meteors won’t come and try to destroy us?” Kei finally looked at Hinata, the golden eyes piercing. “Do you really want your sister to be the sun guardian so soon?”

“But that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Hinata questioned. “To protect everyone?” 

Kei didn’t say anything, only turning back to stare out at the clouds.

“How’d your dad die?” Hinata asked suddenly. “I’ve heard the moon god’s family was cursed by Iwaizumi’s family for something that happened centuries ago, but I don’t know…”

“He never woke up.” Kei pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Never woke up?” Hinata repeated.

“He went into a sort of coma one day. No one even knew it was coming.” Kei shook his head. “And then one night…”

Kei didn’t need to finish his sentence for Hinata to understand.

“I was only two when he died. I don’t think I understood what was going on, but I do remember him not being there in the morning.” Kei continued. “My brother wouldn’t come home for a few days and I didn’t understand why.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Hinata reached over and put a hand on Kei’s shoulder. “The elders just told me what happened with your brother when my dad died, but I didn’t hear what happened to your father.”

“There’s no way to break it that they know of.” Kei pushed his glasses up his nose, clearly trying hard not to lose his composure. “And apparently it skips from guardian to guardian.”

“So you think you’ll be next…” Hinata’s voice trailed off. “There’s no way to prevent it at all?” 

“Nope.” Kei shook his head. “My friend’s dad works with medicines, but he said there’s nothing to cure it or to prevent it. He’s researching it and he’s making progress, but…”

“But you can’t let that stop you, right?” Hinata’s hand travelled down to Kei’s back and made circles between his shoulder blades.

Kei tensed up for a minute, wondering what Hinata was doing. He relaxed a bit once he realized that Hinata was trying to comfort him.

“I mean, we’re the only ones who can protect the sun and the moon, right? That’s why we have our names.” Hinata said. “And if that’s the case, we can’t let anything stop us or else the whole planet is in trouble.” He looked back at Kei. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like jumping across the galaxy anytime soon, though.”

“Yeah, I know we can go into space with us being guardians and all, but I really don’t want to go out there more than I have to.” Kei had been out to the asteroid fields a few times with his brother, but the feeling of being out in space always made him feel dizzy.

“I’d be up for some volleyball if you want to pass the time.” Kei didn’t know if Hinata was aware that he was changing the subject, but he figured he wouldn’t question it. “I don’t have the ball with me now, but we seem to have a lot of time to kill, you know?”

“You play volleyball?” Kei looked back at Hinata.

“I’m not any good at it, but yeah.” Hinata nodded as he moved his hand up to Kei’s neck.

“You’re aware that I’m almost a full foot taller than you, right?” Kei looked Hinata up and down.

“But I can jump!” Hinata threw his fist into the air.

“It makes sense that you’re the sun guardian.” Kei observed, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

“Huh?” Hinata moved his hand away from Kei’s neck and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “How?”

“You have so much energy.” Kei didn’t think that needed explaining. “I mean, you’re always running or charging up the hill on your bike when you get here every night.”

“Maybe that explains why you as the moon guardian have as much energy as a sloth.” Hinata said playfully. “Are you any good at fighting?”

“I know which end of the sword to use, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Kei shot back. “Maybe you should bring your sword in the morning so you can practice during the day.”

“Maybe that’s a good idea.” Hinata shrugged, leaning against Kei as he struggled to stay awake. “The elders always say how helpless I am with it.”

“You’ll never get better if you don’t practice,” Kei taunted him in a sing-song voice. 

“Shut up,” Hinata stuck his tongue out at Kei. 

“Don’t you need to head back soon?” Kei reached up and ran his fingers though Hinata’s hair, noticing how hard the redhead was trying to stay awake. “The sun’s set, you know.”

“I know, I know.” Hinata sighed. “I just like hanging out with you, that’s all.”

“Can’t imagine why.” Kei rolled his eyes.

“I’ll head out, then.” Hinata yawned and stood up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kei.”

“See ya.” Kei waved goodbye as Hinata walked over to his bike by the mountain path.

“Oh, Kei?”

Kei turned around and saw that Hinata was facing him, his face unusually serious.

“It’ll be all right. We’ll get through this.”

It took Kei a minute to realize what Hinata was talking about.

“Yeah.”

Hinata jumped on his bike and pedaled over to the path.

“Good luck tonight, Kei.” 

And with that, he was gone, leaving Kei alone with more than a few confused thoughts running through his mind.


	3. I Feel You Here With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So at this point, I'm actively going back and adding in chapters to remedy the plot points that I messed up on earlier, so things might be a bit out of order. I wrote this while I was working on what would've been chapter six, but obviously the order is going to change a little bit. I know it's a bit confusing, but I hope it'll explain some things in the later chapters.
> 
> This chapter's title comes from "Gravity of You".

“Shoyo! Shoyo, you need to get up!”

Hinata blinked against the bright light as Natsu stormed into his bedroom, flicking on the light switch and jumping on his bed. He was used to Natsu waking him up in the middle of the night when she wanted to play, but she never sounded this insistent on him waking up. 

“Natsu, what’s going on?” Hinata groaned as he looked at his alarm clock. “The sun doesn’t come up for three more hours.”

“Tsukishima’s here and he says he needs you up at the mountain.” Natsu was still jumping on the bed. “He says its something important.” 

“Wait, Kei’s here?” Hinata figured he must still be half asleep. “Now?”

“Yes! He’s downstairs!” Natsu huffed, glaring impatiently at her brother. “Now hurry up!”

She jumped off the bed and dashed out of the room, leaving a very confused Hinata to get out of bed and get dressed. He was pulling on a pair of jeans when he heard a soft knock on the door and a few seconds later, saw Kei peek into the room. 

“So you’re actually here?” Hinata cocked his head to the side. “But who’s on the mountain?”

“No one, right now.” Kei shook his head. “That doesn’t matter though, this is an emergency.” 

“Why? What’s happened?” Hinata was still trying to shake off the effects of sleep as he yawned and tried to focus on Kei.

“A comet hit the moon and it’s spun out of orbit.” Kei went on. “I don’t have to tell you what that means, right?”

“That’ll change the way everything happens on Earth, right?” Hinata had been reading up on space in the time he spent on the mountain and knew how important the moon’s orbit was. 

“Exactly.” Kei nodded. “So I need you to help me bring it back.”

“Can we really pull that off?” Hinata grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. “We’ve never been in space before, either.”

“I guess this’ll be the first.” Kei grabbed Hinata by the arm and dragged him out of the room. “Now hurry, we need to fix this fast.”

“Got it.” Hinata followed Kei down the steps and out the front door, stopping so they could put their shoes on. He turned back to call to Natsu. “Natsu, I’ve got to go to space. I’ll let you know when I’m back, okay?”

“I’ll let Mom and Dad know. Be safe!” Natsu waved Hinata and Kei off as they dashed out the front door and made their way up to the mountain.

As soon as they reached the summit, Hinata knew that something was wrong. He’d never seen the moon so low in the sky before. He looked over at Kei and saw he was staring up at the dark sky, eyes fixed on the moon.

“We can do this.” Kei seemed to be reassuring himself more than Hinata. 

“You know how to get up there, right?” Hinata stood at the edge of the cliff. “I mean, I know how, but-“

“Of course I do.” Kei snapped. He took a deep breath and jumped out off the mountain. Where any other person would have fallen, Kei stayed in place, as if he was held by an invisible step. He took a few seconds to steady himself, making sure he wouldn’t fall, before he turned back to Hinata. “Ready?”

Nodding, Hinata followed behind Kei, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he stepped out onto the thin air. 

“Geez, this is nerve wracking.” 

“I’m going to jump now, okay?” Kei didn’t wait for Hinata to respond before he knelt down, gathering his focus before he jumped, rising faster in the sky than Hinata thought possible.

“He’s going too fast…” Hinata jumped up, following behind Kei as quickly as he could, hoping that he wouldn’t do something without thinking that could jeopardize everything. 

It didn’t take him long to reach Kei. The blond was standing in front of the moon, eyebrows furrowed as he focused and Hinata could swear that he could see the gears turning in his head as he thought about the solution to their current predicament. 

“Kei, you need to slow down.” Hinata reached out and grabbed his hand, making Kei jump a little. “I know how serious this is, but we need to make sure we can get this right or else we’re all done for.” He pulled Kei around so he was staring up into the golden eyes. “And this is me saying this, which never happens.”

“I know.” Kei nodded. “I think I’ve figured out where its orbit is up here, so we just have to move it back now.”

“Man, moving up here is really weird.” Hinata couldn’t get used to the floating feeling when he moved.

“I figured out that we can just walk like we normally do.” Kei demonstrated for Hinata. “It seems to work the same. That way it’ll be basically what we’re already used to.”

“You’ve figured that out?” Hinata questioned. “You haven’t even been up here that long.”

“It wasn’t that hard.” Kei sounded like it should have been obvious. 

“Fine. But how do you suggest we move it back?” Hinata crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I’ll stand back and direct you.” Kei moved over to a patch in open space. “Just push it back in my direction.”

“You want me to push the moon over to you?” Hinata couldn’t think of a more ludicrous sounding idea.

“Do you have any other suggestions?” Kei demanded. “Look, it’s the only thing I can think of. We just have to give it a shot.”

“Okay, just let me know when to stop.” Hinata sighed, moving his hands to the moon, feeling the rough surface against his skin.

“At least it isn’t too far off orbit. It’s not as bad as I thought.” Kei watched as Hinata slowly inched the moon forward, bit by bit. “Okay, a little bit further to the right.” 

“Easy for you to say.” Hinata grunted, his hands slipping on the rock. “You’re not the one moving a moon across space.”

“Fine, the next time we need to move a planet, I’ll do it.” Kei rolled his eyes. After a few more seconds, he said, “You’re good, Hinata.”

“Thank goodness,” Hinata jumped back and moved over to where Kei stood, still watching the moon spin slowly in its orbit. “Kei, I think it’s okay.”

“Yeah, it’s spin looks normal.” Kei breathed a sigh of relief. “But its weird. Normally we shouldn’t be able to see it move, right?”

“What’s your point?” Hinata asked.

“Why can we see it?” Kei crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

“Why can we do any of this?” Hinata couldn’t come up with an answer. “I don’t know about you, but the elders really didn’t explain all that much to me. Just the basic duties and stuff.”

“Well, at least I’m not the only one left in the dark.” Kei said. “Still, I’m glad we got this fixed.”

“Feel better?” Hinata cracked a smile.

“A bit, yeah.” Kei nodded. “Thanks for the help, though.”

“No problem.” Hinata responded, patting Kei on the back. “Part of the job, right?”

“A job for nine-year-olds?” Kei scoffed. “I don’t think so.”

“Let’s head back so I can go back to sleep.” Hinata yawned. “I’m going to be so tired in the morning.”

“Maybe you can take a nap while you’re on the mountain?” Kei suggested as they headed back towards Earth. 

“Hey, I’ll race you?” Hinata spun around and asked Kei, jumping up and down.

“Why in the world would we-“

Kei didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before Hinata took off, racing towards Earth. He was moving faster than he’d ever moved before and wasn’t expecting to crash into the summit. He winced as he sat up, checking to make sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere, before he turned to find Kei descending from the sky, landing much more gracefully than Hinata had.

“You left a nice light trail for me to follow.” Kei smirked, reaching over to help Hinata up. “You okay?”

“Am I okay?” Hinata was staring at Kei with wide eyes, taking Kei’s hand as the blond helped him to his feet. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?” Kei was equally confused. “Did you hit your head when you fell?”

“You’re glowing, Kei! Like you’re an actual firefly!” Hinata couldn’t imagine how Kei couldn’t see it. The moon guardian was emitting a faint white light, just enough to break through the darkness. “Seriously, why are you glowing? You weren’t before we left!”

“What are you talking about?” Kei blinked. He took a step back, but didn’t take his eyes off of Hinata. “And…Hinata, this is really weird.”

“You’re just now realizing it?” Hinata exclaimed. 

“No, I can…sense you? I guess?” Kei stared at Hinata. “It’s like I can feel your consciousness somehow. What is going on?”

“Kei, you’re not making any sense at all.” Hinata said, following Kei over to the edge of the cliff. 

“You can’t sense me?” Kei looked over at Hinata, a hint of panic tainting his voice. 

Hinata didn’t say anything for a minute. Kei was right. Something was different, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was. 

He took a minute to focus and that’s when he felt it: a sort of pulsing that radiated throughout his entire body. It didn’t take him long to realize what it was.

“I think I can sense your heartbeat,” Hinata said finally. “I think that’s what it is. I can actually feel your heartbeat, but I can see it, too. I mean, it’s like it’s a radio wave and I can see the lines without really seeing them?”

“It wouldn’t be a radio wave, idiot.” Kei rolled his eyes.

“Well, I don’t know what else to call it! Can you possibly explain what’s happening to us right now?” Hinata glared at Kei. “But I can sort of sense that you’re really flustered right now. The lines changed and the waves started moving a bit faster.”

“Seriously?” Kei’s eyes grew wide. “You can sense that, too?”

“Wait, can you?” Hinata struggled to make sense of it all. “You can sense me like that?”

“I’m not sure if it’s your heartbeat or what, but it’s sort of like…I can feel your presence here and I can tell you’re okay.” Kei frowned. “But it just feels really weird.”

“Maybe it’s related to why you’re glowing?” Hinata suggested.

“But wouldn’t you be too?” Kei questioned. “Why am I the one glowing and you’re not?”

“Unless it’s connected to the time of day?” Hinata wondered. “Maybe you’re glowing because it’s night and I’ll glow in the morning?”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Kei retorted.

“None of this makes any sense, Kei,” Hinata said a bit more harshly than he wanted to. “I mean, we go up in space. We come back and you’re glowing and we can both sense each other?”

“Maybe the elders will know something about this.” Kei said. 

“But wouldn’t they have told us when we started all this?” Hinata pointed out. “They told us everything else.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Kei turned around, staring at Hinata. 

“How should I know?” Hinata sighed dramatically. “Should we tell the elders about this?”

“I don’t think so.” Kei shook his head. “I think you’re right. If they knew about this, they would’ve told us. But they haven’t exactly said much about this whole guardians thing.”

“What do you mean?” Hinata asked.

“Maybe I’m seeing this wrong, but it’s almost like they want us to figure everything out by ourselves.” Kei went on. “I can’t imagine why, though.”

“But wouldn’t they want to know about this?” Hinata questioned.

“I think we should see if we can figure out why before we say anything.” Kei shook his head. “And if we can’t, then we can ask them.”

“It still sounds pretty messed up to me, but if you think it’s the best.” Hinata leaned back on the ground, staring up at the sky. “This might be weird of me to say, but I kind of like this, though. Being able to kind of feel you like this, though.”

“That’s a bit of a weird way to put it,” Kei shrugged. “But I think I agree with you.”


	4. Radiating Energy Like Eternal Northern Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean for it to be so long for an update, nor for the chapter to be this short, but it took longer than I expected to get back with this. I want to write the later chapters, but I need to get a few more done here first. 
> 
> This chapter's title comes from "Telescope".

Hinata turned his back on the dwarf star and stared back at Earth. If he focused hard enough, he could see a hint of Kei’s glow from the top of the mountain. Clearly he’d been out in space longer than he thought. He’d left just before noon, but if Kei was at the mountain, then it was time for him to head back.

“Didn’t mean to be up here this long…” 

He took off like a rocket, speeding back down to the mountaintop where he ended up crashing back to the ground and tumbling into a patch of grass just off the cliff. He sat up slowly, muttering a few choice words under his breath.

“Nice landing there.” 

“Oh, shut up.” Hinata grimaced, rubbing the back of his head as he gingerly got to his feet. He turned around and saw Kei leaning against one of the trees by the clearing. “Been here long?”

“Not long. I guess you saw me from up there? What were you even doing?” Kei shoved his hands into his pockets and sauntered over to Hinata.

“I got bored, so I went up to check things out.” Hinata said like it was nothing.

“What, no Kageyama today?” Kei arched an eyebrow.

“He was helping his dad, so he couldn’t come.” Hinata shook his head, sitting down on the cliff. “Kenma was going to come up, but he never got here, I guess.”

“Kenma?” Kei sat down next to Hinata.

“My friend.” Hinata supplied. “He lives down the street from me, so we used to play together sometimes.”

“Wait, you have friends besides Kageyama?” Kei feigned surprise. “Shocker.”

“Rude.” Hinata stuck his tongue out at Kei. After a moment, he said, “So did you find out anything from the elders today?”

“I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to ask them?” Kei twisted the cord of his headphones around his finger.

“We did, but I figured that you’d want to get answers regardless.” Hinata retorted. “You did go, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Kei said sheepishly.

“And what did you find?” Hinata pressed.

“As I suspected, they have no clue what’s going on.” Kei sighed.

“So we have to figure this out ourselves.” Hinata said. “You’re not blocking me now, are you?” 

“Why would I?” Kei questioned. 

“Just checking.” Hinata shrugged.

“Because I can feel that you’re a bit confused right now.” Kei said. “About what?”

“This whole thing.” Hinata slumped forward, elbows on his knees. “Why in the world is this happening?” 

“I checked out the archives today, too. I couldn’t find much. Apparently the animal guardian’s family used to be able to speak with animals, but they didn’t know why, either.” Kei moved away from the cliff and fell back onto the grass, staring up at the darkening sky. “Not that that’s similar with our problem in any way.”

“That’s Kenma’s family.” Hinata said. “He doesn’t like animals all that much, but his parents run one of the vet practices in town and he helps out there.” He leaned back and said, “He really can talk to animals, though.”

“He can?” Kei arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Kageyama sometimes has to get him when there’s an animal hurt on the mountain and Kenma goes and talks to the animal to figure out what’s wrong.” Hinata went on. “And if its really serious, he’ll bring it back to have his parents check it out.”

“Hmm,” Kei nodded.

“But you didn’t find anything that would help us?” Hinata glanced up at Kei.

“Nope.” Kei shook his head. “Lots of past curses that have been broken, but it seems that Iwaizumi’s family put the curse on mine over a land dispute.”

“A land dispute?” Hinata repeated.

“Apparently there was an argument over which family owned a cherry tree because the property lines weren’t drawn up well,” Kei said. “Each one thought that they rightfully owned it. Iwaizumi’s ancestor got so angry that he cursed my ancestor and we all know what happens next.” 

“That’s stupid,” Hinata said. 

“Isn’t it?” Kei rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I was expecting something a bit more serious than a fight over a tree, but I guess that’s how it goes.”

“At least there’s some new information that we didn’t have before.” Hinata got up and started walking away from the cliff.

“Where are you going?” Kei turned around to watch Hinata.

“Natsu was meant to come up around sunset when I was heading back, but I guess she’s not here yet.” Hinata crossed his arms in front of his chest before he turned back to Kei. “But you’re here really early today. Sunset isn’t for a few hours.”

“So I’m not allowed to come up here early?” Kei questioned, turning around and moving away from the cliff so he could still see Hinata.

“No, but you never do.” Hinata said. “It’s just really weird for you to do that.”

“I wanted to see if you were still glowing,” Kei said simply enough. “You were when I left this morning.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Hinata glared at Kei. 

“I didn’t think it would make a difference if I told you.” Kei shrugged.

“I would’ve liked to know if I was glowing.” Hinata scowled. 

“Maybe you were right, though.” Kei mused. “About it being connected to the time of day.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait to see if you glow tonight, then.” Hinata walked back over to where Kei was sitting. “I’d wanted to go back to the archives to see if there was anything else to find, but I don’t think I’d have much luck anyway.”

“I still don’t know why you’re researching this, though.” Kei cocked his head to the side.

“Because you’re my friend and I want to see why it’s happening,” Hinata felt like he was stating the obvious. 

“We’re friends?” Kei frowned.

“I mean, I thought we were,” Hinata sat down in front of Kei, his eyes on the taller boy. “Are we not?”

“No, I guess that we are.” Kei said. “It just doesn’t feel like how it is when I’m with Yamaguchi.” 

“Who’s that?” Hinata asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“My best friend. I think I told you about him.” Kei went on. “We met when Dad died.”

“Oh, yeah.” Hinata nodded. “But maybe it’s different because you’ve known him longer?”

“Yeah, maybe that’s it…” Kei said. “Anyway, thanks for helping me look this stuff up.”

“I mean, it’s not that big of a deal.” Hinata shrugged. “I just wish we knew more about it.”

“We could try to experiment.” Kei suggested. 

“What do you mean?” Hinata said slowly, a bit hesitant to find out what Kei was talking about.

“With sensing, I mean.” Kei reached up to fix his glasses. “Like, apparently you can see my heartbeat, but I can’t see yours.”

“Not even if you focus hard enough?” Hinata frowned.

Kei closed his eyes and fell silent for a few minutes. When he opened his eyes again, he stared at Hinata with such intensity that Hinata had to move back a few inches.

“A circle…” Kei finally said.

“Circle?” Hinata repeated.

“I think yours is a circle pulsing that changes with your emotions.” Kei answered. “Now you’re nervous and it’s speeding up and revolving.”

“Like the sun?” Hinata suggested. 

“Maybe.” Kei shrugged.

“If that’s the case, I wonder why yours is just a line?” Hinata frowned. “The moon isn’t shaped like a line.”

“No idea.” Kei shook his head. “I wonder if we can block emotions, too.”

“But do we want to do that?” Hinata asked. “I’m not going to go sensing you all the time, but if I think something’s wrong…”

“Then you can just ask me,” Kei cut him off.

“You’re not always the most honest person like that, though.” Hinata pointed out. 

“I don’t think it’ll be an issue.” Kei shook his head. 

“If you say so.” Hinata tried to ignore the nervous feeling in his stomach. “But at least we figured out something from this. Even if it doesn’t explain why it’s happening.”


	5. A Light In Seas Of Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter's title comes from "Down With The Fallen", which happens to be my favourite Starset song. This one got a bit Kei-centric, but the next chapter should be focused on Hinata a bit more.

“So I can actually meet him today, right? This guy you’ve been talking about for years?”

Kei sighed as he looked over at Yamaguchi, who was bouncing up and down as they made their way up the mountain path. He didn’t know why his best friend was so eager to meet Hinata. Kei hadn’t thought that he talked about him that much, but maybe he’d been mistaken. He wasn’t the most talkative person to begin with and he usually let Hinata do the talking when they were together, but he and Yamaguchi had been close for as long as he could remember. Perhaps he was just more open with him than he was with anyone else.

“That’s why you’re coming, right?” Kei replied. “But you can only stay for a little while, so I don’t know why you’re even bothering.”

“Because I want to meet Hinata.” Yamaguchi said with a smile. “It’s been five years and I still don’t know why you haven’t introduced me yet.”

“Because this is sort of work stuff?” Kei shrugged.

“You’re letting him use your telescope.” Yamaguchi arched an eyebrow as he gestured towards the large carrying case in Kei’s hand. “You won’t even let me look at it.”

“He’s been asking to see it.” Kei said. “I told him that I’d show him the stars one night and it’s meant to be clear tonight.”

“Your telescope, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi repeated.

“Yes, my telescope.” Kei really couldn’t see what the big deal was.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Yamaguchi stopped walking and turned around to face Kei.

“No?” Kei cocked his head to the side.

“Okay, I’ll just have to see for myself.” Yamaguchi nodded and turned back to sprint further up the path.

“See what for yourself?” Kei took off after him, taking care not to damage his telescope. “Yamaguchi!”

Yamaguchi had always been a faster runner than Kei and reached the top of the mountain in no time. When Kei finally caught up with them, Yamaguchi and Hinata were both in the middle of the clearing, sitting in the lawn chairs that Kei had brought up years ago. Yamaguchi waved as Kei reached the top, stopping for a minute to catch his breath.

“Tsukki, you didn’t tell me how cute he is!”

“W-what?” Kei couldn’t stop the pink from erupting over his face.

Fortunately, Hinata didn’t seem to take much notice of the situation.

“Are you cold, Kei?” he asked with genuine concern. “It’s almost winter, you know. You aren’t getting sick, are you?”

“I’m fine.” Kei straightened and moved to set the telescope next to Hinata’s bike. “And you’re more likely to get sick with the way you’re only wearing a hoodie right now, Hinata.”

“It’s warmer up here during the day.” Hinata said defensively. 

“He calls you Kei?” Yamaguchi glanced knowingly at Kei. “Even I’m not allowed to call you that.”

“He only does it because he doesn’t listen when I tell him to stop.” Kei shot a glare at Hinata, who ran to hide behind Yamaguchi.

“I like your name!” Hinata pouted. “It’s a lot cooler than mine is.”

“Shoyo’s not a bad name.” Kei shrugged.

“But why’d you bring Yamaguchi?” Hinata frowned. “Not that I’m not happy to see him, but you usually don’t bring people with you.”

“He comes up after you leave.” Kei sat down by the makeshift fire-pit he and Hinata had built when they were nine. 

“My dad works with the medicines and I’m training with him, so I usually don’t finish until later at night.” Yamaguchi explained. “Tsukki and I are neighbours. We met when his dad was sick.”

“And you’ve put up with him for all these years?” Hinata looked at Yamaguchi in awe.

“I’m fucking delightful and you know it.” Kei smacked Hinata’s shins before he turned to Yamaguchi. “And shouldn’t you be leaving, anyway?”

“Yeah, probably.” Yamaguchi sighed. “I just wanted to meet you, Hinata.”

“Me?” Hinata asked. “Why?”

“Because Tsukki’s talked about you a lot for the last five years?” Yamaguchi stretched his arms in front of his chest.

“Wait, what?” Hinata looked back at Kei. “You’ve been talking about me?”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.” Kei rolled his eyes, ignoring Hinata completely.

“Sorry, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi grinned and Hinata could tell that he wasn’t sorry at all. “I might have to come up more to see you when you’re up here, Hinata.”

“Kageyama comes up here, but you can come too!” Hinata nodded.

“Oh, the mountain guardian’s son?” Yamaguchi had heard the name before.

“He helps his dad with watching the mountain, so he usually comes up here when he’s done.” Hinata explained.

“You two are practically joined at the hip already.” Kei crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Bring him up sometime so I can meet him, too.” Yamaguchi got up and made his way back over to the mountain path. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Tsukki.”

“Later.” Kei waved goodbye as Yamaguchi headed back down the mountain.

“You okay?” Hinata got up and knelt down in front of Kei, peering into the eyes behind the glasses. “Your voice sounds really weird.”

“I’m fine.” Kei shook it off, hoping that Hinata would move back so he wouldn’t hear how loud his heart was beating.

“If you say so.” Hinata leaned back, though he still kept his eyes on Kei. “But what did you tell Yamaguchi about me?”

“Nothing really.” Kei said. “Just that you’re the sun guardian and I have to endure your company twice a day.”

“Oh shut up, you know it’s not that bad.” Hinata made a face as Kei laughed. “But that’s it?”

“More of less.” Kei rested his elbow on his knee. 

“He seemed awfully interested in me, though.” Hinata mused. “Maybe he has a crush on me?”

“Since when have you cared about that sort of thing?” Kei really didn’t want this conversation to continue, but he couldn’t bring himself to change the subject.

“And you really don’t seem to be all that interested in girls, either.” Hinata stared at Kei.

And this really wasn’t where Kei wanted the conversation to go, either.

“What are you talking about?” He knew he didn’t sound the least bit convincing.

Hinata stared at Kei for a few seconds before shaking his head and falling back on the rocks, staring at the darkening sky.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“It must be something or you wouldn’t have said anything.” Kei could feel his heart racing again.

“I just feel like I really can’t say anything about it yet.” Hinata wasn’t usually this cryptic.

“Okay…” Kei allowed the subject to drop, realizing that Hinata wasn’t going to comment any further. After a few minutes, he said, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Is it a good surprise?” Hinata sat up, looking at Kei skeptically. 

“I brought the telescope.” Kei grinned.

“You did? Seriously?” Hinata’s eyes grew wide. “I didn’t think you were going to show me”

“You’ve been bugging me for ages about it.” Kei said. “I wanted to watch the stars tonight since it’ll be clear out.”

“Yay!” Hinata shouted.

“Just let me set it up, okay?” Kei stood and made his way over to the case, moving it over closer to the cliff. “I don’t want you breaking it.”

“I wouldn’t anyway.” Hinata scowled, watching Kei assemble the telescope.

By the time Kei was finished, it was dark, the only light coming from the moon and the millions of stars. Hinata had pulled the lawn chairs over to where Kei was working and was watching him intently, his eyes more focused than any time Kei had ever seen them.

“Done.” Kei stood back and looked at the telescope in satisfaction.

“Finally!” Hinata jumped up. “I’ve never used one of these before.”

“Just look through these.” Kei pointed to the eyepiece. “The knob behind it changes the focus.”

Hinata leaned forward and pressed his eyes to the eyepiece.

“Woah!”

“What’s wrong?” 

“It’s so pretty!”

“That’s all?” Kei had thought that there was something seriously wrong considering the way Hinata reacted.

“That’s all!?” Hinata was still looking through the eyepiece. “Kei, do you know how beautiful this is?”

“Obviously I do or else I wouldn’t like the stars so much.” Kei sighed.

“Can I look at the moon?” Hinata leaned back and looked eagerly at Kei. “I want to see the craters!”

“Hang on…” Kei adjusted the telescope carefully. “Okay, you might need to change the focus, though.”

Hinata leaned forward again and gasped.

“Wow, look at it! Is the moon always this big?”

“You’re looking at it through a telescope, dumbass.” Kei had to laugh at Hinata’s reactions. He’d never seen anyone get so excited about seeing the moon before.

“Here, look at it!” Hinata grabbed Kei’s hand and pulled him closer.

Kei felt his heart jump when Hinata touched him, but he was grateful Hinata couldn’t see him blush in the dark.

“Isn’t it cool?” Hinata asked as Kei looked through the eyepiece.

“It’s almost as if you’d never seen the moon before in your life.” Kei smiled.

“Oh, shut up.” Hinata poked him in the side.

“I really didn’t think you’d like it this much.” Kei moved over to let Hinata look again. “I should’ve brought it up sooner.”

“I wish I’d brought camping gear.” Hinata frowned. “Then we could watch the stars all night.”

“Maybe tomorrow.” Kei suggested. “Oh, but it’s going to be cloudy tomorrow.”

“But maybe we can still camp out anyway?” Hinata was adjusting the focus on the eyepiece. “I haven’t been camping in ages.”

“You really want to?” Kei looked at Hinata questioningly. “I mean, I have a tent at home, but you know how cold it’ll be, right?”

“You spend the night out here every night.” Hinata said like it was nothing, moving back to look at Kei.

“But I have to.” Kei pointed out. “And I’m allowed to take naps throughout the night, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“You do?” Hinata had never heard this before.

“I can’t be expected to be awake all day and all night, can I?” Kei said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s fine.”

“Okay, you bring your tent and I’ll bring food and other stuff.” Hinata grinned. “And I guess I’ll need stuff for the morning, too.”

“Just go home and get some sleep now, though.” Kei said. “You don’t want to be tired for tomorrow night, do you?”

“But I’ll be able to sleep longer than you can.” Hinata frowned. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“Sure, why not?” Kei assured him. “It’ll be fun.”


	6. I Could Lie Awake Just To Watch You Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title for this chapter comes from "Dark On Me". As of right now, this has been my favourite chapter to write and it ended up being a lot longer than I expected. I'm working on getting the next chapters up soon, but it might take a little while.

In actuality, Kei was sort of dreading the sleepover. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to seeing Hinata, but he was finding it harder and harder to deny what he’d told Yamaguchi. Perhaps there was something there that hadn’t been when he first met Hinata. It was something that Akiteru had cautioned him about, but he wasn’t sure it was meant to be the same when he was thinking about another boy.

The next day, Kei reached the mountain a bit earlier than usual. He figured that he could at least set up the tent and attempt to make something slightly edible. He hadn’t packed much as far as food went, but it was better than nothing. Hinata had already unrolled his sleeping bag and most of the cooking supplies and was entertaining himself by reading some manga off by the edge of the forest.

“You’re early.” He looked up when he heard Kei’s footsteps.

“I thought I’d get the tent up.” Kei answered, leaning over so he could dump his supplies on the ground. “Nothing happened today?”

“Except for some rather chaotic squirrels, nothing. The universe seems quiet today.” Hinata shook his head. “Which is good because I had to work with the fragments from that comet yesterday.”

“I still think you should’ve told me about that.” Kei said. “I could’ve helped.”

“Nah, I had it under control.” Hinata said with a wave of his hand.

“I just hope nothing happens…” Kei knelt down so he could work on the tent.

“Hmm…” Hinata nodded, walking over behind Kei. He leaned down next to him, his hand on Kei’s knee for support. “Need any help?”

“You know how to pitch a tent?” Kei tried to ignore how close Hinata was to him.

“Not really.” Hinata shook his head.

“Then you can help by staying out of the way.” Kei answered. “You’re too close, anyway.”

“Am not!” Hinata protested, but he moved back regardless. After watching Kei for a few minutes, he asked, “Did you see Yamaguchi today?”

“I did.” Kei moved around the tent. “He asked about you.”

“Maybe he does have a crush on me after all.” Hinata sat down a short distance away from where Kei was working.

“What if he did?” Kei asked before he could stop himself. “What would you do?”

“Hmm.” Hinata thought to himself. “I don’t know.”

“Huh.” Kei wondered if he should press the matter further.

“There’s someone else I like, though.” Hinata started playing with the strings on his hoodie.

“Oh really?” Kei tried to pretend that he wasn’t interested.

“I’m not telling you who!” Hinata said a little louder than he intended.

“I didn’t ask you to…” Kei said slowly.

“I’m going to go get some fish, then.” Hinata grabbed his fishing pole by his bike and ran down the mountain path to the stream by the lake. He and Natsu used to go swimming with Kageyama when they were younger. He stopped at the dock, staring at his reflection in the water. “What was I thinking? I can’t tell him something like that. He’ll think it’s weird.”

He took a deep breath and tried to shake it off, putting his concentration into fishing. He realized that he hadn’t brought extra line with him, so it was a rather quick fishing trip. 

The sun had set completely by the time Hinata got back. Kei had made a fire and was trying to read by the light, but judging from the look of frustration on his face, it wasn’t going well at all. He looked up when he heard Hinata walk back to the campground, not even bothering to mark his place in his book before closing it. 

“Good haul?” He asked.

“Not really.” Hinata still felt really awkward about earlier and he knew Kei could probably see right through him. ”Think you can work with these?”

“You assume I’ll be cooking?” Kei questioned.

“Because I caught the food?” Hinata said, setting the fish down on a patch of grass near the fire-pit.

“If you go get some more firewood, I guess I can.” Kei said with a sigh.

“Way ahead of you.” Hinata darted off to the forest and came back with an armful of logs a few minutes later. “I got some ready before you came up today.”

“Oh.” Kei honestly hadn’t expected Hinata to think so far ahead.

“Didn’t think I’d be prepared, did you?” Hinata dropped the logs over by the fire.

“Maybe you’ve been around me for too long.” Kei reached over and messed with Hinata’s hair, making it stick up all over the place.

“Cut it out,” Hinata whined, grabbing Kei’s wrist. “We see each other all the time, you know.”

“You’ve been up here with me a lot more often lately.” Kei pointed out.

“I don’t here you complaining.” Hinata grinned deviously.

“Shut up.” Kei jerked his hand back, standing up and moving towards the pile of logs.

“Do you need any help?” Hinata asked. “I know I said you’d cook, but I can help a little bit if you want.”

“Are you asking seriously or are you just asking so you can say that you did?”

“How does that even make sense?” Hinata questioned as he tried to fix his hair.

“Did you happen to bring any other food?” Kei asked, gesturing for Hinata to join him.

“Snacks and my lunch for tomorrow.” Hinata said.

“It doesn’t like this’ll be very much at all.” Kei pointed out.

“Didn’t I say that?” Hinata frowned.

“Well, I’ve got instant ramen that we could make.” Kei shrugged. “Just keep the fire going. It looks like it’s dying out.”

“So bossy.” Hinata said as he moved for his sleeping bag. “I’ve got some instant ramen too, but its just shrimp.”

“Hey, little shrimpy bringing shrimp ramen.” Kei laughed at his joke.

“Is that what you call me when I’m not around?” Hinata had never heard Kei call him anything other than his name before. 

“Don’t be stupid.” Kei shook his head. “No one would take me seriously.”

“I don’t think many do anyway.” Hinata grabbed some bottled water from Kei’s bag and dumped them into the pot above the fire.

“Now you’re the mean one.” Kei pointed out. “And you need to fix the fire, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hinata reached for a lighter from his pocket. He grabbed a branch from the fire-pit and once it was lit, Hinata tossed it back into the fire. “Done.” 

“Partially.” Kei walked over to the fire and sat down in one of the lawn chairs.

“And the fish?” Hinata questioned.

“Not enough meat.” Kei shook his head.

“That was all I could get!” Hinata said defensively.

“It’s fine.” Kei shrugged. “I’m not really in the mood for fish, anway.”

“We’re about to eat shrimp ramen.” Hinata reminded him, reaching over to put a lid on the pot.

“Somehow its different.” Kei said in a bored voice, his eyes fixed on the fire in front of him.

“You’re weird.” Hinata leaned back on the grass that was sprouting up from between the rocks.

“No, that would be you.” Kei corrected him.

“Did you bring the telescope tonight?” Kei was always surprised at how fast Hinata could change the conversation.

“It’s going to be cloudy tonight, remember?” Kei said.

“Oh yeah…” Hinata sighed. “Last night was kinda fun, though.”

“You were just like a little kid.” Kei offered Hinata a rare smile.

“Was not!” Hinata protested as he scooted back and pulled himself up into the chair next to Kei. “Kageyama asked about you today, by the way.”

“When’d you see him?” Kei had only met Hinata’s friend a few times.

“He was clearing some fallen trees earlier this morning and dropped by.” Hinata leaned his elbow against the armrest. “He left about an hour before you got here, I guess.”

“Anything interesting happening?” Kei was only partially interested.

“His family was planning something with Nishinoya’s. Like a party, I think. Maybe something like a cookout.” Hinata struggled to remember the details. “They invited you, too, but I said that you had to be up here.”

“Why’d they invite me?” Kei frowned, leaning forward to check the pot of water over the fire. “I don’t know their families that well.”

“They know we’re friends, I guess.” Hinata shrugged. “Everyone seems to think we’re super close or something like that.”

“Are we?” Kei looked back at Hinata.

“You and Yamaguchi are like this, right?” Hinata crossed his index and middle fingers together, ignoring Kei’s question.

“I guess.” Kei had been friends with Yamaguchi for so long that it seemed sort of obvious.

“I wish I could find someone like that.” Hinata leaned back and looked up at the sky.

“What about Kageyama?” Kei asked. “You two seem pretty close.” 

“Not as close as you and Yamaguchi are.” Hinata shook his head. “And I think I’m close with you than I am with Kageyama, anyway.”

“You think so?” Kei stared.

“Yeah.” Hinata nodded. “Why, is that weird?”

“I just didn’t expect to hear you say that.” Kei reached over to Hinata’s cooler grabbed two sodas. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.” Hinata looked down at the ground.

“It’s fine.” Kei handed the soda to Hinata. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so…” Hinata said slowly before they lapsed into silence.

Hinata couldn’t help but feel that dinner was more awkward than either of them had anticipated. Kei often ate with Hinata and sometimes Hinata would bring them both something to eat in the morning, but their conversations were usually more animated. This time there was no conversation at all. Kei seemed to be avoiding Hinata and was more focused than he usually was. Hinata had long since learned Kei’s habits when he was lost in his thoughts and judging from the way he kept staring at the fire, Hinata knew that something was on his mind. He stayed that way for so long that Hinata had to remind him that his ramen was getting cold. He knew Kei could be concentrating on anything, but considering their last conversation, he realized he probably shouldn’t have said anything to him after all.

“You aren’t tired yet?” Hinata felt exhausted just looking at Kei several hours later as the blond sat on the cliff, staring out into the night sky.

“A bit.” Kei nodded. “I’m used to it, though.”

“But it can’t be good for you.” Hinata got up and walked over to join Kei. “You don’t sleep regularly.”

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to worry about me.” Kei said. “Still, I could use a nap right about now.”

“I’m ready to sleep.” Hinata yawned. “But I just sat down…”

“I can’t have you falling off the cliff, though.” Kei stood up and grabbed Hinata’s arm, trying to pull him up. “Come on, you’ve already got the sleeping bags in the tent, right?”

“Ages ago.” Hinata nodded, allowing Kei to lead him away from the cliff and back to their camping spot. “How do you do this every night?”

“I sleep some during the day.” Kei doused some water over the campfire, making sure it was completely out before he followed Hinata inside the tent. He watched as Hinata moved like a zombie to kick off his shoes, unroll his sleeping bag and crawl inside. “Man, you really aren’t a night person, are you?”

“I’m the sun guardian.” Hinata glared at Kei as the latter turned on the electric lamp, the dim light illuminating the tent. “What do you expect?”

“I still think that’s why you have so much energy.” Kei shrugged, taking off his glasses and setting them next to his pillow before crawling inside his sleeping bag. “Mom made me bring extra blankets for both of us if you want one.”

“Blankets…” Kei had never seen Hinata this tired before. It was strange to see him when he wasn’t jumping around. “I’ll take one.”

“You’ll get this one.” Kei reached behind him and grabbed a fleece blanket with some video game characters on it and tossed it to Hinata. 

“So warm…” Hinata pulled the blanket over him and burrowed down so that he was completely covered.

“Really cute.” Kei smirked.

“Oh, shut up, I’m exhausted.” Hinata poked his head out from under the covers and glared at Kei. “I’ve been up since five in the morning.”

“You’re still acting weird, though.” Kei threw his own star-covered blanket over him and settled down. “You okay?”

“Just thinking.” Hinata said. “I don’t know if I should say anything.” 

“Spit it out.” Kei said, his directness taking Hinata by surprise.

"You're sure?" Hinata arched an eyebrow.

"Clearly I am, since I'm asking you about it." Kei sighed in frustration.

“You don’t hate me, do you?” Hinata couldn’t bring himself to look at Kei.

“Is this about earlier?” Kei frowned. “Hinata, I said it was fine.”

“It’s about my dad.” Hinata said. “And your brother.”

Kei stared back at Hinata, the golden eyes locked on the small redhead trying to hide underneath the covers. Hinata wasn’t looking at Kei, though, and he had to know why this was still on his mind after all these years. Especially since Hinata had never mentioned it before.

“Your brother didn’t need to be there. He was helping my dad protect the sun, but he was the moon guardian. And they both died in the end.” Hinata shook his head. “If it wasn’t for Dad, your brother would still be alive.”

“Are you stupid or something?” 

Hinata finally looked over at Kei, his eyes wide. He’d expected several reactions from him, but this had not been one of them.

“Huh?”

“Do you honestly think I’d hate you over something like that?” Kei turned over on his side so that he was facing Hinata.

“I don’t know?” was all Hinata could manage to say. “You can be pretty secretive about things sometimes.”

“Hinata, I don’t blame you for this.” Kei said. “And I certainly don’t hate you, either.”

“You don’t?” Hinata turned over onto his stomach.

“The sun and moon guardians help each other out. Like last year when you helped me guide that comet away from the black hole.” Kei said. “Of course I wish Akiteru was still alive, but no one’s to blame for it. No one could have predicted that.”

“So you’re not mad?” Hinata frowned.

“Of course not.” Kei shook his head. “I really don’t think I could ever hate you.”

“Oh.” Hinata was all sorts of confused and he was wondering if his sleep deprivation was finally catching up to him.

“If you’re done worrying, I’m going to sleep for a bit.” Kei yawned. “See you when you wake up.”

“Yeah, you too.” Hinata nodded.

He didn’t sleep, though. He was exhausted, but his mind was wandering faster than it usually did. He felt a lot better after talking with Kei, but that was only part of the problem.

Hinata’s eyes were fixed on Kei, watching as he drifted off to sleep, listening as his breathing evened out. He wasn’t used to seeing him without his glasses on and Hinata had to stop himself from staring.

Yesterday Yamaguchi had called him cute, but Hinata would argue that Kei was the cuter one.

“Talk about hopeless.” Hinata thought to himself, shutting his eyes against the light. “I guess I fell harder than I thought.”


	7. Send Out The Signal And I'll Fly Low

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I didn't expect this one to be so long. There's a lot of information, but I'm glad I finally got to get a bit of Asahi and Noya in here. 
> 
> Sometime in the future, I'm planning on updating the earlier chapters: expanding on points that need to be fleshed out a bit and adding ideas to use for future chapters.
> 
> Has anyone listened to Starset yet? I haven't had a chance to get the new album that came out yesterday. The chapter title for this one comes from "Halo".

It wasn’t normal for Kei to be late. Not that he was technically late, but he usually came a bit before the sunset so that he and Hinata could hang out for a while before Hinata had to go home. They’d both bought cell phones when they turned sixteen and they always texted each other if something important happened.

“What’s up with him?” 

He knew he had no right to be, but Hinata was getting worried. He kept checking his phone every few minutes to see if Kei had sent him a message. He’d even texted Kageyama and Yamaguchi to see if they’d heard anything from him. Yamaguchi hadn’t responded and all he got from Kageyama was a snarky response that maybe Hinata should try calling his boyfriend to see where he was instead of pestering everyone else about it.

“Stupid Tobio.” Hinata flushed bright red when he saw his friend’s response. “He’s not my boyfriend, dumbass.”

It wasn’t long before he got an answer from Kei. He texted Hinata shortly after Kageyama responded and while Hinata was prepared to deal with the backlash from his best friend, he was relieved to see that Kei had finally answered his earlier text.

“Yamaguchi has important info for us. I’m sending Asahi to take your place.”

Hinata stared at the text for a few seconds. Asahi often helped out with the sun guardian duties, since his family was close with Hinata’s. He didn’t like leaving the mountain when he was meant to be on duty, but he felt better knowing that Asahi would handle any trouble that occurred.

“But why didn’t you call me?” Hinata figured he was probably being unreasonable, but Kei always called if something important happened.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Hinata heard movement from the mountain path. Looking over, Hinata saw the faint outline of Asahi jogging up to the top of the mountain.

“Asahi!” Hinata shouted when he reached the top, dashing over to meet the older boy. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Asahi was breathing heavily, leaning forward so that he could catch his breath. After a minute or so, he stood up straighter and said, “Yamaguchi just found out something about Tsukishima’s curse and he thought you’d want to know about it.”

“Kei did?” Hinata stepped back.

“That’s right.” Asahi nodded. 

“That’s weird of him.” Hinata frowned. “I didn’t think he’d tell me stuff about the curse.”

“I’m just the messenger.” Asahi held up his hands. “But is there anything I should know?”

“Keep an eye out for the moon. Some asteroids look like they might hit it. I’ve been watching with my telescope to see if anything’s happening, but I just want to be careful.” Hinata gestured to his own telescope that he’d bought two years ago. Kei had thought it a good idea to have one positioned at the cliff so they could more closely observe the galaxy. 

“I’ll call you if something happens.” Asahi said as Hinata moved towards his bike. 

“I don’t want to go into space today…” Hinata sighed. “But thanks for coming, Asahi!”

“Good luck!” Asahi called after Hinata as he sped down the hill on his bike.

Kei hadn’t told Hinata where to go, but he figured that Yamaguchi’s house was a good place to start. He biked down past the playground where he and Natsu used to play and soon found himself at a little house by the stream. 

“I hope it’s nothing bad…” Hinata leaned his bike against the side of the house and moved quickly up the sidewalk.

He knocked twice before he let himself inside, taking his shoes off and walking through the seemingly empty house.

“Tadashi?” Hinata had taken to calling Yamaguchi by his first name, too. “Kei?”

“Up here!”

Hinata heard Yamaguchi’s voice from the attic and Hinata made his way through the kitchen and up to the second floor of the house.

Yamaguchi hated that he didn’t have an actual bedroom or even a loft, but Kei and Hinata were always a bit envious of him. Especially since Yamaguchi’s room had skylights that could open at night. Yamaguchi had made his bedroom his own personal library, the walls lined with several bookshelves filled with books on astronomy, medicines, various grimoire and even a few books on parapsychology. Star charts lined the walls and hand-written notes took up just about every inch of wall space that was left. It might look like a cluttered mess to anyone else, but Yamaguchi knew exactly where everything was and Hinata was always surprised by how he kept track of everything. 

Reaching the second floor, Hinata soon found the small cord hanging from the ceiling and pulled, stepping back as the ladder fell down from the ceiling.

“They could’ve waited for me.”

Glaring at the ladder in protest, Hinata climbed up to Yamaguchi’s bedroom, his eyes squinting to see through the dimmer light from Yamaguchi’s old desk lamp. Kei and Yamaguchi were sitting on the bed, both of them looking more serious than Hinata was entirely comfortable with. 

Kei looked up at him when he reached the top of the ladder, scooting over to make room for Hinata on the small bed.

“Took you long enough.”

“What’s going on?” Hinata asked nervously, moving over to sit between Kei and the wall. “Is it something bad?”

“No, nothing bad.” Yamaguchi shot Kei a look. “I told you to tell him that.”

“He’d find out when he got here.” Kei shrugged. “And now he’s here.”

“So what’s up?” Hinata turned to Yamaguchi. 

“I just might’ve found a way to break the curse.” Yamaguchi said with a grin.

“No way!” Hinata’s eyes lit up. “How?”

“Iwaizumi came by with his dad earlier and brought an old grimoire to see if there’s a way to fix it.”

“But why would he want to do that?” Hinata frowned. “I thought the Iwaizumi family hated Kei’s? And that’s why they cursed them?”

“Centuries ago.” Kei explained, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Iwaizumi and I have sort of come to an agreement that this whole curse thing is utterly ridiculous.”

“So how do we stop it?” Hinata asked, looking back and forth between Kei and Yamaguchi.

“That’s the tricky part.” Yamaguchi’s face fell. “Tsukki would already have to be in a coma for it to work.”

“You’re kidding…” Hinata sighed.

“Then we’d have to get some stardust and make a circle around him.” Yamaguchi said. “I guess we’d need a lot of it since he’s so tall, too.”

“Oh, shut up.” Kei leaned forward and smacked Yamaguchi across the arm.

“And there’s something about an ankh.” Yamaguchi frowned, clearly trying to think.

“Wait, like the Egyptian thing?” Hinata questioned. “Are you sure?”

“Well, the book is so old that it’s hard to tell. That’s why Iwaizumi brought it in in the first place.” Yamaguchi pointed out. “But ankhs represent life, so it would make sense, right?”

“Is that it?” Hinata thought it was all a bit too simple.

“Then I’ve got to read one of the spells in the grimoire.” Yamaguchi went on. “Honestly, I don’t know if this’ll even work.”

“But we have to try, right?” Hinata was trying to stay optimistic.

“You guys talk like I’m about to die any minute.” Kei rolled his eyes.

“It’s good to be prepared, isn’t it?” Hinata’s eyes were on Kei. “It’s scary to think that something like this can even happen.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Kei snapped, making Hinata jump in surprise. “I don’t exactly like living knowing that I could never wake up again.” He sighed and said, “There’s still something I need to do…”

“What is it?” Hinata asked.

“Not telling.” Hinata didn’t often see Kei this moody, though he had a good reason to be.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know.” Yamaguchi added. “Like how it even works at all. And why it only seems to affect every second moon guardian.”

“There’s no way to tell if or when it’ll happen?” Hinata asked, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“I’m wondering if the lunar phases have something to do with it.” Yamaguchi commented. When both Kei and Hinata turned to look at him, he said, “It mentioned something about a full moon.”

“But there’ve been lots of full moons and Kei’s just fine.” Hinata pointed out.

“Now that I think about it, Akiteru said it was a full moon when my dad went into a coma…” Kei said, more to himself than to the other two.

“And when he died?” Yamaguchi asked.

“New moon.” Kei answered.

“Can we find the dates of when the other moon guardians died?” Hinata asked, trying to come up with some ideas. “We could check the lunar phases and see if they add up.”

“It couldn’t hurt to check. Maybe there’s a pattern.” Yamaguchi nodded. “I’ll check the archives at the library and see if I come up with anything.”

“Let us know if you come up with something.” Hinata nodded.

“Of course.” Yamaguchi stood up and stretched his arms in front of his chest. “I’ve got to get to work transcribing this, though. There’s a lot to go through.”

“Like you need more notes on your walls.” Kei cracked a smile at Yamaguchi.

“Some of these are yours, you know.” Yamaguchi said. “Your star charts that you made when you were a kid.”

“You’re the one who asked for them.” Kei shrugged.

“Kei and I should be heading back, too.” Hinata scooted over and jumped off the bed, grabbing Kei by the hand and pulling him up.  
“Why, did something happen?” Kei’s eyes narrowed.

“There’s an asteroid that might hit the moon,” Hinata said. “Asahi’s watching it for me, though.”

“You might’ve mentioned that sooner.” Kei said.

“Just when would I have had the chance to?” Hinata scowled.

“Payback for you making him think that something was wrong, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi covered a smile with his hand.

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.” Kei sighed as they made their way down the ladder and through the house. 

They stopped at the front door, putting their shoes back on before they stepped outside.

“It shouldn’t take too long.” Hinata added, following Kei off the porch as they both waved goodbye to Yamaguchi.

“Was it a big asteroid?” Kei walked beside Hinata to where the latter had dropped his bike.

“Not really, but I want to be careful.” Hinata jumped on his bike and started to move forward. “No harm in that, right?”

They made their way back up the mountain in silence, Kei lost in his music and Hinata focusing on his thoughts. Kei’s earlier words had left him confused. He’d known that Kei felt that there was something that he needed to take care of, but Kei had never said it outright, only making Hinata aware through his actions. Kei made it clear that he wasn’t going to tell Hinata what it was, but it didn’t stop Hinata from wondering.

When they reached the top of the mountain, they saw Asahi lying on his back, staring at the sky. He sat up when he heard Kei and Hinata reach the summit, and turned around to face them, his eyes showing his concern.

“Everything okay?”

“Just curse stuff.” Kei said nonchalantly. 

“Thanks for taking my spot, Asahi.” Hinata dropped his bike by the trail and dashed over to join Kei and Asahi. “Did anything change?”

“Yeah, you’re going to need to go change its orbit.” Asahi gestured towards the sky. “It’s getting a bit closer.” 

“I figured as much.” Kei groaned, taking off his headphones. He reached for his phone in his pocket and gently set them both on the ground. “Dammit, I hate going into space.”

“But we need to go.” Hinata set his own phone next to Kei’s. He turned back to Asahi and asked, “Can you stay for just a bit longer? Natsu’s in school right now and won’t be able to get here.”

“That’s fine. Noya’s coming by for a visit, so he’ll probably be here when you get back,” Asahi said with his usual smile.

“Thanks.” Hinata nodded and turned to the edge of the cliff, where Kei was already glaring out into the sky. “You know glaring at it won’t fix things.”

“Obviously.” Kei rolled his eyes. “I just wish we had space suits or something. It feels weird.” 

“We’re guardians, it doesn’t affect us like it does everyone else.” Hinata said.

“Doesn’t explain the glowing.” Kei looked over at Hinata. 

“No one’s been able to figure that out yet. But you’re stalling again.” Hinata huffed, hands on his hips. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Kei sighed.

Without saying a word, Hinata took a deep breath and walked off the cliff. He'd gone into space countless times over the years, but the initial feeling of walking off into thin air still sent a shiver up his spine. 

“Still feels weird.”

“Come on, Kei.” Hinata turned around and grabbed Kei’s hand, pulling him off the cliff. 

“Hinata, watch it!” Kei’s eyes grew wide as he stumbled to regain his footing. “I have to prepare for this.”

“Geez, you take too long.” Hinata whined. “Fine, I’m going on ahead.”

He didn’t give Kei a chance to respond before he closed his eyes and jumped as high as he could, reaching space much faster than he anticipated. Hinata wasn’t surprised to see that Kei wasn’t with him. He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Kei always takes forever.”

He had been waiting by the moon for about twenty minutes when Kei finally arrived. Hinata had taken to counting the number of craters on the moon’s surface and had counted over two hundred in the time it took Kei to reach him.

“Took you long enough.” Hinata glowered at Kei.

“I don’t like going fast.” Kei said simply. “All of the laws of nature say we shouldn’t be doing any of this. We should be dead by now.”

“We’re guardians, Kei.” Hinata was growing tired of repeating himself. “The laws of nature are different with us.” He moved behind Kei and gently pushed him forward. “Now hurry up. We’ve got an asteroid to take care of.”

“It’s over on the other side.” Kei pointed at the moon. “I saw it on the way over.”

“Let’s go!” Hinata took off, leaving Kei behind to trail after him.

“Hinata, slow down!” Kei called after him, trying his best to keep up. “You know what happened the last time you ran out of energy up here.”

“That was only one time!” Hinata stopped short, spinning around to glare at Kei. 

“And I’m not dragging you back again, so slow the fuck down.” Kei had final caught up to Hinata and grabbed his arm, holding him in place. “We’re not in any rush this time, okay?”

“We weren’t in a rush last time, either.” Hinata stared.

“Now you see my point.” Kei pushed his glasses up his nose. “So how do you want to do this? Am I guiding this time or are you?”

“You did it last, so it’s my turn.” Hinata dashed past the asteroid. “I’ll tell you when you’re good to go.”

He always felt like he was guiding an incoming place on the runway, but Hinata knew just how important their job was. If they didn’t prevent the asteroid from hitting the moon, the casualties would be disastrous.

“You’re good!” Hinata shouted ten minutes later when Kei had successfully positioned the asteroid. 

“So get out of the way so I can send it back!” Hinata heard Kei shout back.

“All set!” Hinata yelled as he darted out of the way, moving back to where Kei stood behind the asteroid.

It had taken him a while, but Hinata was finally used to the way asteroids moved back into space. It was never fast like he always expected. Instead, it was more like watching something in slow motion, which made sense considering the size of the asteroid in question. 

“Success!” Hinata threw his hands up in the air.

“Somehow you’re too loud even in space.” Kei sighed.

“What, we can’t celebrate the little victories?” Hinata challenged.

“Let’s just head back.” Kei rolled his eyes. 

“Race ya!”

Before Kei had a chance to say anything, Hinata took off towards Earth, leaving a trail of light behind in his wake. He had to remind himself to slow down once he entered the atmosphere so he wouldn’t crash into the mountain. Kei was all too fond of telling the story of when Hinata collided with the mountain the first time.

When he arrived back on the mountain, he saw Asahi and Nishinoya had pulled the lawn chairs up to the cliff, Asahi laughing as Nishinoya waved his arms about in an animated conversation. They both waved when they saw Hinata reach the summit.

“Welcome back!” Nishinoya grinned at Hinata.

“Good to see you, Noya.” Hinata carefully touched back down on the rocks and made his way over to where Nishinoya and Asahi were sitting.

“Where’s your other half?” Asahi questioned when he didn’t see Kei following behind Hinata.

“He’s not my other half.” Hinata could feel his ears turn red.

“Sure.” Nishinoya winked knowingly at Asahi.

“He’s not!” Hinata protested.

“You can ask him yourself.” Asahi pointed towards the edge of the cliff, where Kei was coming down from the sky, following the light trail Hinata had left behind.

“What do you want to ask me?” Kei stepped off onto the cliff, looking at Asahi and Nishinoya before resting his eyes on Hinata.

“It’s nothing.” Hinata shook his head.

“Really?” Kei wasn’t convinced.

“Yes, really.” Hinata stood up on tiptoes so he could look Kei in the eye.

“Did everything go okay?” Nishinoya could sense the tension and decided to change the subject.

“Crisis averted.” Kei sat down on the rocks across from Asahi.

“It might’ve been okay anyway, but I’m glad we got it taken care of.” Hinata sat down next to Kei, lying on his back.

“I wish I could go into space.” Nishinoya sighed enviously.

“No, you don’t.” Kei shook his head. “You really don’t.” 

“I wish our phones would work up there.” Hinata leaned up on his elbow so he could look at Nishinoya. “That way I could take pictures for you.”

“That’s a terrible idea and you know it.” Kei’s eyes were on Hinata.

“And what do you mean by that?” Hinata demanded.

“You’re already distracted enough by space.” Kei pulled his knees up to his chest. “I don’t need you taking pictures of nebulas every five minutes.”

“They’re so pretty!” Hinata exclaimed. “I could run around getting pictures of all of them!”

“You have so much energy already.” Asahi observed. “It’s a wonder Tsukishima can keep track of you at all.”

“You guys are so mean.” Hinata pouted.

“Oh Hinata, before I forget, Yachi wanted me to ask you if you’ve finished with her book yet.” Nishinoya said suddenly, turning to Hinata.

“No, it’s at home. But I’m almost done!” Hinata replied. “I’ll have to text her about it.”

“What, you reading?” Kei looked at Hinata in disbelief. 

“I read!” Hinata protested.

“What’s it about?” Asahi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“It’s a story set in a universe where when you meet your soul-mate, you both start glowing.” Hinata explained.

“What, like we do?” Kei arched an eyebrow.

“You two don’t glow.” Nishinoya scoffed. “Don’t be absurd.”

“We do. Hinata’s glowing right now.” Kei shrugged it off, standing up to walk over to the camp to retrieve his headphones and his and Hinata’s phones. He tossed Hinata his cell phone and sat back down. “You guys just can’t see it.”

“Wait, seriously?” Asahi looked alarmed as Nishinoya stared intently at Hinata, trying to see any sign of light illuminating from the smaller boy. 

“I glow in the daytime and Kei glows at night.” Hinata said. “We think it’s a guardian thing. It hasn’t always been that way and the elders really don’t know why, but it started after we went in space for the first time.”

“That’s just weird.” Nishinoya leaned back in his seat.

“But no, Kei, it isn’t like that.” Hinata sat up, crossing his legs. “They both apparently glow at the same time.”

“Guess we’re not soul-mates then.” Kei said jokingly.

“Apparently not.” Asahi said. “In that story, anyway.”

“Maybe Yachi will let me read it when you’re done.” Nishinoya said. “It sounds pretty good.”

“I’ll ask her for you.” Hinata told him. 

“Not to change the subject completely, but isn’t it about time we got going, Noya?” Asahi stood up, walking over to Nishinoya.

“Oh yeah, we’d better head out before Dad calls.” Nishinoya grimaced and got up, grabbing his hoodie from the back of the chair.

“Another party?” Kei often heard about the parties from Hinata.

“A family one.” Nishinoya said. “You guys can come too, if you want!”

“But we’re not family.” Hinata pointed out.

“Asahi’s coming!” Nishinoya nodded.

“You two are practically like brothers.” Hinata said. “That doesn’t really count.”

“Not like you and Kageyama,” Asahi said to Hinata, who cocked his head in confusion. “When you’re not up here with Tsukishima, you’re with Kageyama.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Hinata asked defensively. 

“Nothing.” Asahi turned back to glare at Nishinoya, who had moved behind the taller boy and was trying to push him towards the path down the mountain. “Noya, I’m moving!”

“Easy for you to say.” Noya grunted as he continued to push Asahi. “Dad won’t be yelling at you for being late.”

“Thanks for watching the mountain for us!” Hinata watched as Asahi and Nishinoya made their way back down the mountain.

“No problem!” came Asahi’s distant reply.

Kei sighed and pulled his headphones back down to his neck, exhausted from the whole ordeal. 

“Are you okay?” Hinata leaned forward and peered into Kei’s eyes.

“Of course.” Kei leaned back and looked away. “They just wear me out. Noya has so much energy. As much as you do, I think.”

“Do I do that?” Hinata frowned. “Make you this tired, I mean?”

“No, you’re a different kind of energetic.” Kei yawned. “Maybe because I’ve seen you when you’re dead tired before.”

“What, like at our campouts?” Hinata asked.

“You fell asleep on me last time.” Kei smirked.

“Did not!” Hinata smacked Kei on the arm.

“The drool on my shirt indicated otherwise.” Kei ducked as Hinata raised his hand again.

“Well, you do lots of weird things, too.” Hinata challenged. 

“But I own up to them.” Kei shot back.

Hinata scowled, knowing that Kei was right. He fell back on the rocks, pulling Kei’s arm and dragging him down with him.

“What are we, a couple now?” Kei quipped, looking over at Hinata.

“Of course not.” Hinata said. "But I guess it's a good thing we didn't tell Noya and Asahi about the consciousness thing."

"They freaked out enough about the glowing bit." Kei agreed.

"And with the way it was in that book, they probably would've thought we were actually soul-mates or something like that." Hinata added.

“That’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Kei pulled the headphones off and let them hang around his neck.

“Yeah?”

“Do you like Kageyama?”

"How did you get onto that topic?" Hinata cocked his head to the side.

"Just answer me." Kei said impatiently.

“Of course I do.” Hinata nodded.

“No, I mean more than that.” Kei shook his head.

“More than that?” Hinata stared at Kei.

“God, you’re so clueless.” Kei sighed in frustration. “Okay, let me rephrase. Are you in love with him?”

“What?!” Hinata yelped, surprised that Kei was even bringing up such a subject. “Why would you ask that?”

“You talk about him all the time and you’re really close.” Kei said. “And you really do spend a lot of time with him when you’re not up here with me.”

“No, he’s just a friend.” Hinata told him. “You and Kageyama both.”

“But you do like boys though, right?” Kei leaned on his elbow, eyes on Hinata.

Hinata remained silent. He was trying to determine what Kei’s reaction would be and he was a little afraid to find out.

“It’s fine. I figured it out years ago.”

“You don’t care?”

“Not in the slightest.” Kei adjusted his glasses. “Does anyone else know?”

“Most everyone.” Hinata nodded. “Natsu’s actually taken it upon herself to find a boyfriend for me.”

“Such a cute little sister.” Kei teased Hinata.

“She means well.” Hinata shrugged.

“I can see Akiteru trying to do something like that if he was still alive.” Kei brought the headphones back up to his ears again.

“Wait, are you gay, too?” Hinata sat up, wide eyes staring at Kei.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kei said in a voice that told Hinata that the conversation was over.

Hinata sighed and lay back down against the rocks as he turned his attention to the clouds drifting across the sky.

“I really would, though.”


	8. You've Tuned Me Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planned on the next few chapters taking so long, nor this one being so short. This was a sort of afterthought, which might be why it's not as long as the others.
> 
> This chapter's title comes from "Frequency"

It wasn’t the first time Kei was gone when Hinata reached the mountain just before dawn. Sometimes he would be down at the river reading by the light of his phone, claiming that it was calmer to read there rather than at their makeshift campground. He had also taken up the habit of wandering around the forest as a way to alleviate the boredom that came from watching the sky night after night. 

“He didn’t text me where he was going, so where is he?” Hinata pulled out his phone and checked his messages again, knowing that Kei would usually let him know if he was going somewhere else. 

Hinata sighed, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he set his backpack down inside the tent, noticing the lack of the moon guardian’s presence.

“Kei, where the hell did you go?”

He glanced up at the sky, trying to see if he could see any sign of Kei. It didn’t take long before he found him. A particular patch of the moon was glowing brighter than usual and that could only mean one thing.

“But what are you doing on the moon?”

Hinata tossed his phone onto one of the lawn chairs before approaching the edge of the cliff. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on Kei’s emotions. Hinata could still see Kei’s usual lifeline, as he had called it, but he wasn’t able to read any emotions from him at all.

“What’s going on? Am I not doing it right?” 

He shook his head and tried again. The line was still there, pulsing in time with Kei’s heartbeat, but any trace of emotions Kei was feeling was gone. Usually Hinata could shift through the emotions and guess what Kei was thinking, but he’d never had such a hard time even finding the raw emotions in the first place.

“Why can’t I feel you?” Hinata frowned, becoming increasingly frustrated. 

He tried for another minute or so before he arrived at an answer.

“Are you blocking me out?”

Hinata’s eyes snapped back open, staring at the bright spot on the moon as his mind reeled with questions.

“But why would you…”

His voice trailed off at the end, leaving the sentence unfinished.

“Guess I’ve got to bring you back.”

He jumped straight into the air, reaching the moon sooner than he expected, and crashed down onto the surface below.

“Geez, I need to stop doing that.” Hinata groaned as he stood up, checking for any sign of injury. He straightened up after a few minutes and looked around. “Now where are you?”

He started walking to the other end of the moon, looking for any sign of Kei. After about ten minutes, he found Kei sitting on the ground, knees up to his chest, watching the stars as he listened to music through the silver headphones. Hinata tried again to sense any emotions, but he might as well have been trying to sense a brick wall. For whatever reason, Kei was blocking him out and it worried Hinata more than he cared to admit.

“Kei, what the hell?”

Kei jumped, completely unaware that Hinata was even there. He pulled the headphones down, though Hinata could still hear the music playing, and stared at the orange-haired boy in front of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t find you and I thought something had happened?” Hinata’s hands fell to his hips, deciding to leave out the fact that he knew that Kei was blocking him. 

“It’s not time for you to be here yet, is it?” Kei frowned.

“Yes, it is.” Hinata said. “Seriously, why the hell are you up here?”

“I just needed to think for a while.” Kei sounded a bit suspicious, but Hinata chose to ignore it.

“So you had to do it up here?” 

“It’s quieter up here.” Hinata was well aware that Kei liked to isolate himself when something was wrong.

“You should’ve at least told me you would be up here.” Hinata scowled, sitting down next to Kei. “So what happened?”

“Nothing happened.” Kei shook his head. 

“What were you thinking about?” Hinata pressed.

“Nothing that concerns you.” Kei stood up and turned back to Hinata. “Ready to head back?”

Hinata certainly was not, but he knew that Kei wouldn’t talk if he didn’t want to. He wanted to know why Kei was blocking him out, but Kei clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Yeah, I guess so.”


	9. I'm Going To Want You Until The Stars Evaporate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last of the added chapters, so the next chapter I post will be the next linear chapter. I hope they've explained a few things. I'm not that satisfied with the ending, but I went through about four different rewrites and this is the one I liked the most.
> 
> This chapter's title comes from "Starlight".

“Hinata, I think we’ve got a bit of a problem.”

Hinata looked up from the checkerboard at Kageyama, who was staring off in the direction of the mountain path. Turning around, he realized what his friend was talking about. Kenma was walking towards the clearing, his PSP in one hand and a small yellow kitten in the other. Kuroo was a few paces behind him, though he sped up and took Kenma’s PSP from his hand, since the kitten was proving to be more trouble than Kenma had anticipated and it looked like Kenma’s gaming system was about to fall to the ground. 

“I don’t think I want to know.” Kageyama watched the scene before them, eyes moving from Kenma to Kuroo. 

“What’s he doing bringing a cat up here?” Hinata frowned.

“Because it’s Kenma?” Kageyama supplied as the other two reached the campground. “Why Kuroo is here is beyond me.”

“He just came along.” Kenma sat down across from Hinata next to Kageyama. “I didn’t ask him to come.”

“Be glad I did or else your PSP would be on the ground by now.” Kuroo pointed out. He looked at the board game between Hinata and Kageyama and said, “Checkers? Really?”

“We played poker yesterday.” Kageyama shrugged. 

“What’s going on, Kenma?” Hinata had already taken the kitten and was playing with it. “Why’d you guys bring a kitten up here?”

“She said she wanted to go for a walk.” Kenma said. 

“Right, I forgot you could talk to animals.” Kageyama sighed.

“What is she, a dog?” Kuroo rolled his eyes.

“No, a cat!” Hinata exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the kitten in Kenma’s lap. “Clearly a cat!”

“I haven’t been up here in a while, so I thought I’d stop by.” Kenma ignored them and continued. “Kuroo said he was bored.”

“Well, Tsukishima’s asleep, so there’s no one to play volleyball with.” Kuroo scowled.

“Yeah, he usually sleeps during the day.” Hinata nodded, reaching over and stroking the kitten’s fur. 

“But it’s almost sunset!” Kuroo pointed out, gesturing towards the sun that was gradually sinking below the horizon.

“Meaning he’ll be up here soon, so you can pester him about it when he gets here.” Hinata said.

“If you want to play volleyball with Tsukishima, then you could just come up here at night.” Kenma said. 

“Then I’d be asleep.” Kuroo whined. 

“It’s not that complicated, you know.” Kenma said, shifting slightly as Hinata walked over and picked up the kitten, cradling her in his arms as he walked back to where he’d been sitting.

“So Kenma, is she one of the ones at the vet?” Hinata was still playing with the kitten, who had decided to try to climb up his arm.

“Asahi and Nishinoya found a litter of kittens down by the lake in a cardboard box a few weeks ago.” Kenma explained. “She’s the only one that survived.”

“So sad.” Kageyama reached over and scratched the kitten behind the ears. 

“Yachi said she might be able to take her, but she needs to ask her parents first.” Kenma took his PSP from Kuroo and turned it on.

“I wish I could get a cat. Or even a dog.” Hinata said. “It gets lonely up here sometimes.”

“I’m up here almost every day,” Kageyama retorted, looking more than a little annoyed.

“I mean when you’re not here.” Hinata rolled his eyes. “And just the other day Kei was saying he wished he had a dog for when he’s up here at night.”

“We have some that need homes at the clinic,” Kenma reached over and pried the kitten free from Hinata’s sweatshirt. “Do you think he’d take one?”

“I think his mom’s allergic, so probably not.” Hinata shook his head. He checked the time on his phone and added, “But he’ll be up here soon, so you can ask him if you want.”

“Have you said anything to him yet?” Kageyama looked over at Hinata.

“Said what to him?” Kuroo frowned.

“Hinata likes Tsukishima.” Kageyama supplied.

“Kageyama!” Hinata reached over and smacked Kageyama.

“What? It’s not like you’re very secretive about it.” Kenma pointed out. “I think everyone knows.”

“He does?” Kuroo looked alarmed, eyes darting over to Hinata.

“Okay, apparently everyone but Kuroo.” Kenma focused his attention on the kitten in his lap.

“Do you seriously?” Kuroo turned to Hinata, who was still glaring daggers at Kageyama.

“Yes?” Hinata backed away from Kuroo. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Oh, no reason.” Kuroo shook his head. “It’s all just very interesting.”

“What’s interesting?” Kageyama cocked his head to the side.

“I didn’t think he’d be your type, Hinata,” Kuroo said, completely ignoring Kageyama.

“Well, it’s not like I planned any of this.” Hinata scowled, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. He checked the screen and said, “That was good timing.”

“That him?” Kageyama assumed.

“He said he over slept, but he’ll be here in a few.” Hinata was texting a reply as he spoke. “He’s on his way over.”

“He seems to sleep a lot.” Kenma set his PSP down carefully on the ground so the kitten wouldn’t scratch the screen.

“Yeah, more so than usual.” Hinata mused. “He says he’s fine, but I’m not sure he’s being completely honest with me sometimes.”

“He doesn’t say much to me, either.” Kuroo shrugged. “We’ve been friends for years and sometimes I feel like we don’t know each other at all.”

“That’s because you’re weird in your own way.” Kenma said with biting nonchalance.

“Rude.” Kuroo shot a glare towards Kenma.

“And really random.” Kageyama moved the checkerboard, realizing that they weren’t going to finish their game, and started to put the game back in its box. “What brought that on?”

“It’s true, though.” Kenma said. “Tsukishima and Kuroo have pretty different personalities.” 

“But so do Tsukishima and Hinata and they get on just fine.” Kageyama said. “And Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are the same way.” 

“Don’t you guys know that talking about other people is rude?”

No one had heard Kei reach the campground. He was standing behind Kuroo, headphones on, glaring at the group at large as he pulled up one of the lawn chairs next to Hinata and sat down, taking out his iPod and changing songs.

“Just how long have you been there?” Kuroo’s eyes were on the blond. 

“Long enough.” Kei leaned forward and took the kitten from Hinata, letting her sit like a parrot on his shoulder. “So why is there a kitten up here?”

“She wanted a walk.” Kenma supplied. 

“I see…” Kei said slowly, watching as the kitten stared at the cords for his headphones. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Here, let me see her.” Hinata sighed and moved the kitten over to his knees. “Why don’t you put them away? She won’t get them that way.”

“But I’m still listening to music.” Kei protested, holding up his iPod.

“She wants to know what the headphones are for.” Kenma leaned forward, watching the kitten. 

“You really can talk to animals, can’t you?” Kageyama said. “She didn’t even meow or anything.”

“Kenma’s just really good like that.” Kuroo shrugged. 

Kei ignored them and turned his attention back to the kitten. “They’re for my music. And no, you can’t listen to it.”

“How would a cat listen to music with your headphones, anyway?” Kuroo wondered.

“I don’t even know how we got on this topic,” Kageyama sighed.

“Anyway, have you heard anything from Tadashi?” Hinata focused his attention on Kei, who seemed to be having a staring contest with the kitten.

“About the lunar phases?” Kei picked up the kitten and let her climb up his arm to his shoulder. “No, nothing yet. But I imagine it takes a while to find that sort of information.”

“Curse stuff?” Kuroo assumed.

“If Yamaguchi’s involved, then it probably is.” Kageyama had pulled out his phone and was reading something on the screen.

“We do talk about other things, you know,” Kei stared at Kageyama.

“Yes, but you guys only talk about curse stuff with Yamaguchi,” Kageyama said.

“Shouldn’t we at least ask Iwaizumi what he knows about it?” Hinata felt like he was asking something very obvious.

“Doesn’t Iwaizumi’s family specialize in curses or something like that?” Kenma looked up from his PSP for a moment.

“They certainly seem to cast enough of them.” Kuroo rolled his eyes. 

“He was telling me that they broke a curse on someone from one of the neighboring villages last week.” Kei reached up to scratch the kitten behind the ears. “Apparently the guy got some sort of curse mark once it was removed, though.”

“A curse mark?” Hinata echoed.

“He said something about it being a sort of lasting effect from the curse, though not all curses are like that.” Kei went on. 

“Wouldn’t it be neat if you got one, though?” Kuroo said.

“Why on earth would I want one?” Kei cocked his head to the side.

“As proof that you actually lived?” Kageyama supplied.

“But first we have to find a way to break it,” Hinata said, reaching for his phone in his pocket.

“Oh, I passed Natsu on the way up and she said that you’re meant to pick up dinner tonight,” Kei said suddenly, moving the kitten from his shoulder onto his lap.

“Yeah, she was just asking where I was.” Hinata typed a response on his phone. “She’s just lucky I remembered my wallet today.”

“So you’ve got to head back?” Kageyama watched as Hinata stood up and stretched.

“Yeah, it’s close enough to sunset that Kei can take over.” He looked back at Kei and said, “Are you okay with that?”

“It’s fine.” Kei nodded. “You covered a bit of the night shift for me last week when I overslept, so we’re even.”

“You feeling okay?” Kuroo looked genuinely concerned. “You seem to be sleeping an awful lot lately.”

“And you’ve got those dark circles under your eyes, too.” Hinata leaned over, staring at Kei’s eyes with such intensity that Kei flinched.

“As okay as I’ve ever been.” Kei shrugged, eyes darting away from Hinata’s. 

“I think Tsukishima just sleeps a lot.” Kageyama was still watching his phone.

“But usually not this much,” Hinata pointed out.

“Hinata, I feel like you’d be the first to know if something was wrong.” Kei pulled out his iPod and was scrolling through the music. “Even if I didn’t tell you.”

“Why do you say that?” Kenma frowned.

“Because he can sense stuff like that.” Kei knew that the others had no idea how literal his words were.

“I guess you have a point.” Hinata tried to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, remembering what happened on Kei’s last mission and realizing that it had been at least two years since Hinata had last sensed Kei’s emotions. He reached down for his backpack and pulled it over his shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, Kei. And see you guys later.”

“Don’t make your sister wait any longer!” Kuroo called after Hinata as he walked over to his bike and took off down the mountain.

Once he picked up dinner at the nearby convenience store, night had fallen, the only light coming from the streetlights that lined the sidewalk. After moving his bike to the garage and walking into the kitchen, Hinata found a note from Natsu that she was at the archives and that she’d be back soon.

“Why’d I have to rush to get here, then?”

Groaning in complaint, Hinata walked out to the back deck, climbing up on the rail and leaning against the wall.

“Such a nice night out.” Hinata looked up at the thousands of stars that illuminated the sky. “I wish my telescope wasn’t up on the mountain now.”

He watched the sky in silence. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t notice when Natsu slid open the back door and joined him on the deck.

“Enjoying some stargazing, Shoyo?” 

Hinata jumped, nearly falling off the rail. He regained his balance and sat up, glaring at his younger sister. She laughed and ducked to avoid an attempted smack from Hinata. 

“Just how long have you been here?” 

“A minute or two,” Natsu said innocently as she held up a book to show Hinata. “I realized I needed a book for my homework.”

“You could’ve asked me to pick it up.” Hinata pointed out. 

“I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, so I figured I’d go get it myself.” Natsu pulled herself up on the rail across from Hinata, carefully balancing herself so she wouldn’t fall over. “So why are you out here by yourself?”

“Just watching the sky,” Hinata said. “The moon’s really beautiful tonight.”

“Do you mean the actual moon or are you talking about Tsukishima?”

Hinata stared at Natsu, who had a mysterious smirk set on her lips. 

“The actual moon, of course.” Hinata crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“But you could easily be talking about Tsukishima, you know.” Natsu tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It can be hard to tell with you sometimes.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you,” Hinata grimaced.

“I think I know why you’re afraid to say anything,” Natsu said, scooting a bit closer to her brother.

“And why’s that?” Hinata thought it best to play along with her.

“Because you don’t know how much longer he’ll have with the curse and you’re afraid to let him go.” 

Hinata’s eyes shot upward as he stared at Natsu. Perhaps she had a point. While he had never thought himself why he wouldn’t say anything, he couldn’t deny that her answer made a great deal of sense.

“And it makes sense. If it were me, I think I’d say something, but I don’t know.” Natsu pulled her knees up to her chest. “I guess it’s a bit harder for you because you and Tsukishima have been friends since childhood. You know things about him that no one else does and the reverse is also true.” She frowned and said, “But isn’t it horrible to feel like that all the time?”

“When did you become such an expert in this, Natsu?” Hinata was quite surprised by his sister’s words. 

“You really don’t have to be.” She shrugged. “Clearly the curse affects Tsukishima the most, but I think everyone’s forgetting that you’re involved in this, too.”

“Not really,” Hinata shook his head. 

“He’s your best friend, Hinata. You’ve all but said it yourself,” Natsu played absentmindedly with her shoelaces. 

“Maybe you’re right,” Hinata admitted.

“About what?” Natsu arched an eyebrow.

“About why I haven’t told him,” Hinata said. “It’s scary to think that there will be a time when we actually have to deal with this. And I honestly can’t imagine a time when he won’t be here. I don’t want to imagine that.”

“I wonder if it wears off after the moon guardian reaches a certain age?” Natsu suggested.

“I’m guessing not.” Hinata shook his head.

“But you guys are still to young to be dealing with any of this.” Natsu emphasized.

“I’m eighteen and he’s only a few months younger than me,” Hinata told her.

“You get my point, though.” Natsu said. “No one should have to lose their best friend like that.”

“I’ve been trying not to think of that, though,” Hinata said. “He’s been acting weird lately, but I can’t sense him to see what’s wrong.”

“You can’t sense him?” Natsu frowned, startled by this new information. “Since when?”

“About two years. It’s like he’s blocking me out, but I can’t figure out why.” Hinata sighed in frustration. “And I’d ask him, but I don’t think I’ll get anywhere with that. You know how he is with things like this.” 

“He’s pretty stubborn,” Natsu nodded in agreement. “But he’s also pretty different when you’re around, Shoyo.” 

“What do you mean?” Hinata wondered.

“It’s really hard to explain. He just seems like he’s a completely different person when he’s with you.” Natsu explained. “Like he’s more relaxed and can be himself.”

“I guess I’ll have to trust you on that.” Hinata shrugged.


	10. My Heart Was Bulletproof Til You Took Off The Jacket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before I forget, this chapter title comes from "Frequency".
> 
> As of yesterday, I'm actively adding in new chapters to explain some of the plot points that I missed earlier. Chapter three is brand new and I strongly suggest you read it or else this chapter won't make a lot of sense at the end. I'm also working on editing a few things in previously written chapters to correct some plot points and a few minor technical things I missed the first time. For now, I plan on adding at least two more chapters between what I've already published to further explain the story.
> 
> I'm also taking a few days off of writing new material so I don't burn myself out again and to give me an opportunity to organize everything and actually plan the last few chapters. I've got most of the next chapter handwritten, but I'm planning a sort of alternate ending as inspired by Area 11 (a band I listen to when I'm writing this) and I want to make sure everything's right before I continue. 
> 
> That being said, I hope to god I'm not making anyone OOC. I mean, given the story, there's going to be some out of character moments, but I hope it's not too often. 
> 
> I honestly didn't expect this to get so many hits when I first published this, since apparently TsukiHina is a rare pairing anyway and it's definitely an odd idea, but thanks to everyone who's read it so far!

“So I’m assuming you haven’t made any progress with your boyfriend yet?”

Hinata looked up from his manga to shoot a glare towards Kageyama, who was sitting on the ground across from the fire pit, scrolling through a website on his phone. He had a cocky sort of smirk plastered across his face and Hinata wanted to do nothing more than to lean over and smack him. He knew Kageyama was just saying it to provoke him, but it always managed to work and Hinata wished he wouldn’t let it get to him. 

“I know you know that Kei’s not my boyfriend,” he retorted.

“I can’t understand how he hasn’t picked up on it yet. Everyone in Karasuno who knows both of you figured it out years ago.” Kageyama tapped at his phone. “I mean, you’re not very subtle. Unless he’s just downright oblivious, which I can’t see him being at all.”

“I can’t just say something like that, though,” Hinata protested as he tried to focus on the manga again.

“He knows you like guys, right?” Kageyama looked up at Hinata.

“He says he’s known for a while.” Hinata nodded, eyes still on the book in his hand. “He thought I had a thing for you.”

“Oh man, wouldn’t that be a laugh.” Kageyama snickered. “Can you imagine us dating?”

“It’s crazy, I know.” Hinata agreed. “I don’t know why he’d think that. I mean, he says it’s because we hang out a lot, but that can’t be the only reason, can it?”

“Beats me.” Kageyama was still playing with his phone. 

“He’s been kinda weird, though.” Hinata gave up all hope of ever finishing the manga and tossed it to the ground. “I mean, he isn’t acting like his usual self at all.” 

“What do you mean?” Kageyama rested his phone carefully on his leg, focusing his attention on Hinata.

“Usually he’s sarcastic and kind of mean sometimes, but something feels different. It almost feels like he’s not trying to hide as much from me.” Hinata stared at the ground as he struggled to find the words. “But at the same time, I can’t really sense him anymore. I can still feel his consciousness, but I haven’t been able to see his emotions for ages and I don’t know what that even means. It’s like he’s trying to push me away.”

“Why don’t you just ask him about it? You’ll at least get some answers that way.” Kageyama leaned forward, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. “No harm in that, right?”

“But then I’m afraid I might actually confess and there’s no way I could do that.” Hinata shook his head quickly. 

“I know I’ve told you this before, but I still think you should,” Kageyama said. “I mean, this is you we’re talking about. I really don’t think Tsukishima’s going to be angry with you over this.” 

“You think?” Hinata asked earnestly.

“I think you two are closer than either of you can see,” Kageyama said, a mysterious smile set on his face.

“He’s much closer to Tadashi,” Hinata said.

“Not from the way I see it.” Kageyama shook his head. “You two seem more like you’re brothers than anything else.”

“That’s kind of how it feels sometimes, which makes it really awkward when I consider the fact that I’ve basically been in love with him since we met.” Hinata said. “It’s pretty complicated and it makes my head hurt.”

“That doesn’t take much.” Kageyama leered at Hinata. 

“So mean.” Hinata stuck his tongue out at Kageyama.

“Hey, I’m trying to help you out here.” Kageyama reiterated. 

“Damn, this must be bad if I’m getting dating advice from you.” Hinata sighed dramatically, slouching back in the lawn chair.

“Not if you actually talk to him.” Kageyama checked his phone. “And it’s not dating advice if you aren’t actually dating him.”

“Need to head back?” Hinata knew that Kageyama couldn’t always spend a lot of time with him up on the mountain.

“No, but moon boy texted me a few minutes ago.” Kageyama stared at his phone.

“Moon boy?” Hinata arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“He wants you to check your phone,” Kageyama read from the text. “Why he had to text me, I don’t know.”

“Probably because he knew you’d be up here with me since you come up almost every day.” Hinata got up and made his way into the tent on the other side of the makeshift campground, grabbing his phone from the top of his sleeping bag. 

He entered the password and went to his messages finding not only texts from Natsu and Yachi, but a recent one from Kei.

‘Yamaguchi and I are coming early. He found out some curse stuff. And no, it’s nothing bad.’

Clearly Kei hadn’t forgotten how annoyed Hinata had been the last time this had happened. Shaking his head, he sent Kei a response before he headed back out to the fire-pit, where Kageyama was playing some sort of puzzle game on his phone.

“Why do you even have a tent up here in the daytime?” Kageyama queried as Hinata threw himself back onto the lawn chair.

“It’s Kei’s. We’re having another campout tonight.” Hinata watched Kageyama.

“You guys have a lot of campouts.” Kageyama observed.

“I like to watch the stars.” Hinata picked his manga up off the ground. “Kei’s really cute when he’s trying to find the constellations.”

“Man, you really need to ask him out already.” Kageyama said.

“I keep telling you that it won’t work.” Hinata was growing tired of repeating himself. 

“What did he want, anyway?” Kageyama spun his phone around on his knee.

“He and Yamaguchi are coming up earlier than usual.” Hinata leaned back in the lawn chair. “Apparently Yamaguchi has some more curse news for us.”

“That’s got to be nerve wracking for the both of you,” Kageyama said.

“Kei tries to pretend it doesn’t bother him that much, but he’s more obvious than he thinks sometimes.” Hinata drummed his fingers on his leg.

“Oh hey, like how you’re so obvious around him!” Kageyama exclaimed.

“For god’s sake, Kageyama.” Hinata rolled his eyes. 

“Really, Hinata, just say something?” It was rare for Hinata to see Kageyama so serious or to talk about something like this for so long. “Has Natsu met him yet? She seems to be good with this sort of thing. Maybe she can tell you if she gets any readings off of him.”

“Readings?” Hinata gave Kageyama a look. “Kei’s not an electric meter, you know.” 

“You know what I mean,” Kageyama said.

“For the record, she’s met him, but she refuses to tell me anything.” Hinata sighed theatrically. 

“Hey, here’s a thought,” Kageyama said suddenly, sitting up just a little bit straighter. “Does Tsukishima like girls at all?”

“Why in the world are you still going on about this?” Hinata leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Are you trying to play matchmaker here?”

“You obviously want to do something about this, but you won’t, so someone has to.” Kageyama crossed his arms in front of his chest. “So do you know?”

“He doesn’t usually talk about this sort of thing.” Hinata thought for a moment. “I don’t think he’s ever mentioned it to me.”

“Maybe it’s time you asked.” Kageyama suggested.

“Hinata! Kageyama!”

They turned around and saw Yamaguchi dashing up the dirt path to the top of the mountain, leaving Kei to follow behind at a leisurely pace. Yamaguchi threw down the backpack he’d had over his shoulder to turn around and glower at Kei as he reached the top, pulling the headphones down to his neck and shoving his iPod back in his pocket.

“I thought you always had your phone with you,” Kei said to Hinata as he reached the campground with Yamaguchi a few minutes later.

“Left it in the tent.” Hinata moved over so he and Kei could share the lawn chair while Yamaguchi took the other.

“And you were the one who said we should have them on all the time.” Kei sighed. “Hopeless.”

“I didn’t exactly expect Kageyama to come!” Hinata gestured over to Kageyama, who had returned to the game on his phone. 

“Oh, please. Kageyama’s up here almost as much as Yamaguchi is.” Kei rolled his eyes as he reached over and poked Hinata in the middle of the forehead.

“What the hell, Kei?” Hinata scowled as the blond laughed.

“Tsukki, stop being so mean.” Yamaguchi scolded him, pulling out a notebook from his backpack.

“I think that’s just how Tsukishima is,” Kageyama chimed in, setting his phone aside.

“Anyway, I have some curse information that I thought you’d want to know, Hinata.” Yamaguchi flipped through the notebook.

“Iwaizumi’s here too, but he’s taking forever.” Kei pulled the headphones up to his ears.

“The pot calling the kettle black.” Yamaguchi retorted.

“That’s my cue to head back.” Kageyama stood up, cracking his neck. “Probably should’ve been home hours ago.”

“Well, it was good to see you again, Kageyama,” Yamaguchi looked over at the other boy.

“Same.” Kageyama nodded before he turned his attention back to Hinata. “Just remember what I told you.”

“I think it’s a terrible idea, but I’ll consider it.” Hinata was suddenly aware that Kei was staring at him and he fiddled nervously with the strings on his hoodie.

“That’s all I’m asking.” Kageyama waved before he left the campground and made his way back down the mountain.

“Everything okay?” Yamaguchi asked Hinata.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Hinata nodded. “But why’s Iwaizumi coming?”

“I thought it would be good if we got his input for a change.” Yamaguchi explained.

“But haven’t you always?” Hinata queried.

“Yes, but he’s never been here when we’ve discussed things before.” Yamaguchi supplied. 

“Is that a problem?” Kei questioned.

“No, but it would’ve been nice to know.” Hinata answered.

“Speak of the devil…” Kei looked up towards the mountain path and saw Iwazumi reaching the clearing, visibly out of breath and looking around at the makeshift campsite in confusion. Kei raised his voice a bit and said, “We’re over here, you know.”

“I can see that.” Iwaizumi snapped, sauntering over to the campsite. “What the hell have you guys set up over here?”

“Well, one of us is up here all the time. We figured we might as well make it somewhat inhabitable.” Kei said. “And it’s about time you show up. Did you have to run the last bit?”

“It’s not my fault I got lost.” Iwaizumi scowled as he sat down across from Yamaguchi. 

“If you just kept up with us, it wouldn’t have been an issue.” Kei pointed out.

“You guys move too fast.” Iwaizumi challenged. 

“Even Tsukki was going faster than you and that’s saying something.” Yamaguchi said.

“Oh sure, rub it in, why don’t you.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes before he looked over at Hinata and said, “How’s it going, Hinata?”

“The usual,” Hinata said before he looked over at Yamaguchi. “So what did you find out?”

“A few things, actually. Tsukki was right in suspecting the lunar phases.” Yamaguchi passed his notebook over to Hinata. “Look at the dates. I’ve marked where they would have fallen on the lunar calendar.” 

Hinata scanned the dates several times, trying to ignore the fact that Kei was reading over his shoulder, and it wasn’t long before he understood what Yamaguchi meant.

“They all died on the new moon.”

“And from what I can tell, none of them went into a coma before the full moon. It was only after that.” Yamaguchi went on. “So that time when the moon is in the waxing phase seems to be a bit of a safe period.”

“Good researching there.” Iwaizumi said. 

“You can’t figure out why it’s like that?” Hinata passed the notebook back to Yamaguchi.

“Not yet.” Yamaguchi shook his head. “And there’s something else, too.”

“Yeah?” Hinata wasn’t sure if he was ready to hear it or not.

“From what I can tell, there are mentions written from the sun guardians at the time that the moon guardian would grow increasingly…lethargic, I guess you could say.” Yamaguchi said, shoving the notebook back in his backpack. “They became increasingly lifeless until the end.”

Without saying a word, Hinata looked up at Kei.

“I feel fine, Hinata.” Kei sighed. “Really.”

“But you have to tell me if you don’t, okay?” Hinata said. “None of this pretending that you’re fine like you usually do.”

“I know, I know.” Kei said. “You sound like my mother sometimes.”

“Can you really blame her for worrying, though?” Yamaguchi knew that this was a tough subject, so he chose his words carefully. 

“I guess not.” Kei shook his head. 

“Any ideas?” Hinata asked Iwaizumi.

“No one in my family knew how complex this thing was.” Iwaizumi shook his head. “Actually, they don’t know that I’m even working with you guys to break it.”

“Seriously?” Hinata asked.

“I don’t think they know I took the grimoire, either. I could get in some serious trouble for that.” Iwaizumi went on. “But this whole curse thing is pretty childish, if you ask me. This isn’t the time when you curse people and their descendants just because someone pissed you off, you know?”

“Yama, can I see your notes again?” Kei said suddenly, inching out of the lawn chair and moving towards Yamaguchi. “I just thought of something.”

“What are you thinking?” Yamaguchi pulled out his notebook and handed it to Kei.

“You don’t have the times of death recorded, do you?” Kei knelt on the ground and flipped through the pages of the notebook.

“Just the phases on the lunar calendar and any other notes from the sun guardians.” Yamaguchi supplied. 

“Got an idea?” Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow.

Kei didn’t answer him, his eyes glued to the notebook. After a few minutes, he sighed and tossed the notebook onto the ground.

“What is it?” Hinata asked.

“From what we can tell, they all died at night,” Kei began. “No other time of the day.”

“What’s your point?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Remember the myth about the moon having regenerative powers? The one with the moon dust and the rabbit who tried to capture it for his own?” Kei asked the group.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?” Hinata could rarely follow Kei’s train of thought, but this was more difficult than usual.

“If the legend is true, there would be no way for it to reach the earth to bring the dead back.” Yamaguchi understood.

“We already know that it’s just a myth, right?” Iwaizumi said. “I mean, things die when the moon is out and they don’t come back. Happens all the time.”

“But there’s a lot about all of this that we don’t know.” Kei said. “Like why we can survive in space at all or anything, really. Who’s to say that it wouldn’t work?”

“Well, if you guys could bring me some moon dust, I could always try it.” Yamaguchi shifted a bit in the lawn chair. “I remember reading something in the grimoire about moon dust and curses. It didn’t apply to this particular one and I don’t see any instances of it ever working, but it’s worth a try.”

“And we still don’t know how this curse works at all, right?” Iwaizumi asked. “Like why it doesn’t have a set time period of when the moon guardian dies or anything? They were all different ages, but it can’t be a random thing.”

“From what I can see, it really is random.” Yamaguchi nodded. “Other than the fact that it affects every other moon guardian, I can’t see a pattern at all.” He thought for a moment before saying, “Centuries ago, there was a similar curse that affected the Storyteller’s family.”

“Storyteller?” Hinata asked. “You mean the head of the archives? I didn’t think that was a family position.”

“It isn’t now, but it used to be. Well, that’s not right. It doesn’t have to be, but many of the last Storytellers in history were from the same family.” Yamaguchi informed him. “It changed within the last hundred years or so. They still use the same title as before, though.”

“But what about the curse?” Iwaizumi pressed.

“They thought the pattern was every other Storyteller, but after some time, they realized it was only with the men.” Yamaguchi continued. “It seems the curse broke when a daughter became the next Storyteller.”

“And no signs of the curse have appeared since?” Kei asked.

“Not in written history.” Yamaguchi confirmed. “I’d thought that perhaps this was the case with the moon guardians, but aside from the first one, I can’t find any record of there being a female moon guardian.”

“There have been women sun guardians. My Gran was one.” Hinata nodded. “But I wonder why the moon guardians are all men?”

“Genetics, probably.” Kei assumed. “And the curse on my family doesn’t go as far back as the first moon guardian, so that might explain part of it, too.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but this is pretty confusing.” Iwaizumi groaned.

“I feel like we haven’t made much progress at all.” Hinata slumped forward, his elbows on his knees.

“It’s more than we had before.” Yamaguchi tried to lighten the mood a bit.

“But I wonder why no one’s figured it out before now.” Hinata mused. “Especially since Iwaizumi’s family’s had the grimoire the entire time.”

“I found it hidden away in the attic.” Iwaizumi was playing absentmindedly with his shoestrings. “I don’t think my family even knew it was up there.”

“But they would be angry if they found you took it?” Kei questioned.

“They don’t like people messing with the magic stuff. Even other family members.” Iwaizumi explained. “But shouldn’t the elders have some information about this?”

“I don’t think the elders know much about us at all.” Kei said darkly, glaring at the ground.

“What do you mean?” Yamaguchi asked slowly.

“Think about it. They didn’t know anything about why Hinata and I glow and why only we can see it. And they know even less about why we can sense each other.” Kei continued. “Or anything about us being guardians at all.”

“Maybe that’s because it’s never happened before?” Iwaizumi suggested.

“That’s not exactly true.” Yamaguchi corrected him.

“What?” Kei and Hinata chorused.

“The story is that the first guardians were friends from childhood like you two are. And over the years, they fell in love and their bond was so strong that their glow was a physical manifestation of sorts.” Yamaguchi said. “The thing is that the first guardians were also girls, so it was a sort forbidden love and that’s why they could sense each other. They couldn’t express their emotions in the traditional way, so they had to rely on a supernatural method to connect with the other.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kei’s voice was as sharp as a knife. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Not to mention impossible.” Hinata added. “I mean, this only happened after we went into space for the first time. If it was like the story, this would’ve happened as soon as we became guardians.”

“Not to mention the fact that we’d have to be in love and that definitely isn’t the case.” Kei said. “Where did you even hear about this story anyway?”

“From the archives.” Yamaguchi nodded. “But if you think about it, it explains a lot, don’t you think?”

“But we’re not really that close, though.” Kei said and Hinata nodded in agreement. 

“That’s how you two see it.” Iwaizumi said as Yamaguchi smiled mysteriously at Kei.

“Yama…” Kei threatened.

“I know, I know.” Yamaguchi held up his hands in self-defense.

“Is everything okay?” Hinata glanced over at Kei.

“Yeah, did something happen?” Iwaizumi looked back and forth between the other two.

“It’s fine.” Kei was still glaring at Yamaguchi.

“Anyway, that’s all the news I have so far.” Yamaguchi announced. “I’ll let you guys know if I find something else.”

“Thanks for keeping us in the loop about this.” Hinata inched out of the chair and moved back in the direction of the tent. “I mean, technically this is all of Kei’s business.”

“He always wants me to tell you when something happens.” Yamaguchi said. When Kei stared at Yamaguchi, he said, “I didn’t say anything!”

“You might have.” Kei retorted.

“What the hell is going on?” Iwaizumi stood up and moved towards them. 

“Nothing.” Kei shook his head.

“Geez, you’re moodier than usual today.” Hinata sighed.

“I need to get going, though.” Yamaguchi got up, pulling his back up to his shoulder. “Dad needs help with the shop tonight.”

“You’ll just be doing inventory the whole time.” Kei told him.

“So I might not be able to text you is the point I’m trying to make.” Yamaguchi rephrased.

“Going to stay for a while, Iwaizumi?” Hinata asked the taller boy.

“No, I’m going to go play some video games with Oikawa.” Iwaizumi said. “He just got this new fighting game and wants someone to play it with.”

“Well, good luck.” Hinata waved Iwaizumi and Yamaguchi goodbye as they both made their way down the mountain path, Iwaizumi complaining loudly about having to make the trek back to Karasuno again. Once he was certain they were gone, he turned back to Kei. “Okay, I know something’s up, so what’s going on?”

Kei blinked.

“Maybe Yamaguchi was right.” Kei said a few seconds later. “You seem to know me about as well as he does.”

“So there is something wrong.” Hinata followed Kei back over to the fire-pit and sat down across from him on a patch of grass. “I can sense you, but I haven’t been able to sense your emotions for ages. You aren’t trying to block me out, are you?”

“Most of it you can’t help with.” Kei answered. “I need to sort it out by myself.”

“You’re sure?” Hinata affirmed, noticing Kei wasn’t answering his question. “So what’s the part that I can help with, then?” 

Kei didn’t say anything for a while. He turned and stared off into the darkening sky, watching the moon rise slowly above the clouds. Hinata was used to seeing him in one of his moods, but he couldn’t help but feel that Kei was keeping something from him.

“If I die, don’t try to bring me back.”

He didn’t look at Hinata, only continuing to stare at the moon. Hinata certainly hadn’t been expecting Kei to say anything like that. He stared back at Kei, wondering how long he’d been thinking about this.

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t it be easier?” 

“But if the thing with the moon dust works-“

“It’s only a legend, Hinata.” Kei snapped, finally looking back at Hinata. “We don’t have any evidence to suggest it’ll actually work, even if there was some truth to this.” He reached up to fix his glasses and Hinata saw that his hands were shaking. “I don’t want you to try for something that probably won’t even work.”

“That’s if you die in the first place.” Hinata was so quiet Kei could hardly hear him.

“The hourglass turned when my brother died and the sand is falling fast.” Kei sounded defeated. “We’ve always known I’ve had a target painted on my back. We knew when we first met and it hasn’t changed since.”

“You might be fine with dying, but I’m not,” Hinata said fiercely. 

“Who says I’m okay with dying?” Kei argued.

“Well, you sound like you’re giving up already,” Hinata scowled. 

“I’m just trying to be realistic about this.” Kei said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m the last in line of the moon guardians and there’s no one who can take my place.”

“That’s why we’re trying to find a way around this.” Hinata told him. 

“Easy for you to say.” Kei said accusingly. “Do you have any idea how it feels to be the last of anything?”

“Of course I don’t!” Hinata shouted. “So instead of trying to shut everyone out like you’ve always done, why don’t you try telling me what’s going on?”

“Because it’s fucking terrifying.”

The emotions crashed against Hinata like waves. Kei had been blocking him out for so long that he’d almost forgotten what it felt like. When he sensed Kei, before he’d felt like he was swimming in a river, but now Hinata felt like he was drowning with no hope of surfacing. It was like Kei had finally given up any hope of trying to pretend he was okay and had released the floodgate of emotions he’d built up his entire life. 

“I can’t explain how it feels to know you’re dying soon, but you don’t know when. I know you won’t ever know what it feels like, but I don’t think I can find a way to put it into words so that you’ll understand.” Kei said quietly. “To know that you’re living on borrowed time and that you’re completely alone is the scariest thing I can imagine.”

“But you’re not alone.” Hinata was still trying to sift through the deluge that Kei had released. “I mean, like you said, I won’t ever know how it feels. But considering that you just unleashed a lifetime’s worth of repressed emotions on me, I think I can make a good guess.” He paused before saying, “But why were you trying to block me out?”

“Yet another thing I can’t explain.” Kei sighed. “Maybe I thought that shutting you out would mean I wouldn’t get attached, but I guess Yamaguchi was right all along. I think we both got closer than either of us expected.”

“I think you’re right.” Hinata agreed. “Kageyama was saying the same thing earlier. I guess it was obvious to everyone but us.”

“Hmm.” Kei bit his lip. “It would really be a lot easier on both of us if we weren’t friends.” 

“What do you mean?” Hinata wondered. “The you dying thing?”

“Yeah.” Kei’s voice shook as he spoke. “I just really don’t want to go yet.”

“And I don’t want you to die, either.” Hinata echoed. 

“But just don’t try to bring me back, okay?” Kei stared at Hinata. “Promise me, Hinata.”

Hinata was silent for a moment, but he nodded.

“I don’t like it. You know I’ll do what I can to keep you alive.” Hinata said as his eyes met Kei’s. “But if it’s what you really want, I’ll let it die.”


	11. You Had Me Under Spell Right From The Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got everything sorted out and all of the extra chapters have been added. It took a lot longer than I expected and I've had this chapter ready for quite a while. For once, I'm pleased with how a chapter turned out.
> 
> That being said, there's going to be a bit of a delay for the release of the next chapter. I know exactly what I want to happen, but I'm trying to figure out how to divide up the chapters, so I'm going to get the rest of the story finished before I post anything else. I don't know how long that'll take, but I'm going to start working on it asap. I'm also trying to work on other things so I don't burn myself out with this story because then the story will definitely suffer a bit. But this one's a bit longer than I expected, so that should help tide you guys over until then, right?
> 
> This chapter's title comes from "Telepathic".

“So what was Kageyama talking about earlier? Something about remembering what he told you?”

Night had fallen and even though Kei had argued that it was a practice in futility, Hinata had brought out his volleyball and insisted that they toss it around for a while. It would’ve been even harder to see if the ball hadn’t been outrageously bright neon orange, Kei joking that it was almost as bright as the sun itself.

Kei’s question caught Hinata off guard and he stared at the other boy for a few seconds before he came to his senses.

“What do you mean?” he attempted to feign ignorance as he tossed the ball up in the air to Kei.

“What did he tell you earlier?” Kei could see right through Hinata’s ploy, catching the ball and holding it in his hands.

“Nothing really important.” Hinata tried to brush it off. “He was just trying to give me dating advice.”

“Wait, Kageyama was?” Kei arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.” Hinata nodded.

“So you’re trying to figure out how to talk to a guy?” Kei wasn’t usually one to talk about these things. “What did he say?”

“To try talking to him about it,” Hinata said.

“I would have thought that would be obvious.” Kei tossed the ball back to Hinata.

“I didn’t think you really cared about these things.” Hinata caught the ball and gazed skeptically at Kei.

“Not really.” Kei shrugged. “But it’s obvious that there’s someone always on your mind.”

“You don’t know who?” Hinata stared.

“Of course not.” Kei’s hands fell to his hips. “Why on earth would I know that?”

“I thought you might’ve figured it out.” Hinata tucked the ball under his arm. “You’re really smart like that.”

“Well, I have no idea. It’s not like I can read minds.” Kei shrugged. “And I highly doubt you’ll tell me if I ask, right?”

“Of course not.” Hinata tried not to seem flustered, but he knew he was probably being very obvious.

“Cute, Hinata.” Kei hid a smile behind his hand.

“Definitely not.” Hinata shot the volleyball back towards Kei.

“Whatever you say.” Kei was still smirking at him.

“Besides, I don’t think it really matters.” Hinata shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to be interested in dating or anything like that.”

“You won’t know until you ask.” Kei pointed out, frowning as he heard music playing faintly from the direction of the tent. “Hinata, is that your phone?”

“I think.” Hinata spun around and dashed back to the tent, picking up the call right before it ended. “Hello?”

_“Oh good, you’re still there.”_ Yamaguchi’s voice came through over through the speakers.

“Tadashi?” Hinata sat down, taking care not to sit on the sleeping bags that Kei had already set out. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“ _It’s fine, nothing to worry about. I just wanted to check on Tsukki.”_ Yamaguchi sounded worried. “ _He seemed a bit off when I left.”_

“He’s okay.” Hinata reached for a strand of hair that was sticking up and tugged at it.

“ _He is?”_ Yamaguchi sighed with relief.

“Anything I should know about?” Hinata knew that there were some things Kei only told to Yamaguchi.

“ _Tsukki…has a lot on his mind right now.”_ Yamaguchi said slowly. “ _You know as well as I do that he won’t let anyone in when he’s upset.”_

“Yeah, I kinda had to force him to talk to me earlier,” Hinata said.

“ _It was probably a good thing that you did. I know he trusts us, but sometimes he still needs to be reminded that we actually care about him.”_ Yamaguchi said.

“I thought that would’ve been obvious.” Hinata fell back onto his sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling.

“ _But I have a suggestion for you.”_ Yamaguchi said suddenly. “ _I know there’s something he’s been trying to say to you, but you know Tsukki. He’s not going to tell you willingly.”_

“Can’t you just tell me?” Hinata questioned.

“ _I probably shouldn’t be telling you this much right now.”_ Yamaguchi sounded a bit guiltier than Hinata expected. “ _But if you ask him if you can listen to his music, I think you should figure it out.”_

“His music?” Hinata sat up, leaning on his elbow.

“ _Tsukki’s music says more about him than I think he realizes.”_ Yamaguchi was getting more mysterious by the minute. “ _I think it should help you out a bit.”_

“I don’t know what you mean, but if you say so.” Hinata was completely perplexed, but figured that Yamaguchi knew what he was talking about.

“ _But can I talk to him? He won’t pick up his phone when I try to call.”_ Yamaguchi asked.

“Yeah, hang on.” Hinata stood up and dashed out of the tent, returning to where Kei was tossing the volleyball up in the air. He handed his phone to Kei and said, “Tadashi wants to talk to you.”

Giving Hinata a quizzical look, Kei reached over and took the phone, handing the volleyball back to Hinata.

“There was a reason why I wasn’t answering, Yama.”

He turned and walked off towards the cliff, pulling the headphones around his neck. He seemed to glare out into the darkening sky, like he was trying to ignore whatever Yamaguchi was telling him. Hinata hadn’t intended on eavesdropping, but he heard one phrase in particular that stood out to him.

“I know it’s Hinata, but I can’t tell him that.”

Hinata looked over at Kei when he heard his name, but the moon guardian was still facing away, golden eyes fixed on the sky.

That wasn’t the only thing that bothered him, though.

“Yes, I know I’m running out of time, but you know why I can’t say anything…well, we all know it’s going to happen, Yama. It’s just a question of when, not if. Have you been talking to Hinata about this?”

Kei turned back to Hinata, who could only shrug in response.

“I’ve got you and Kuroo both telling me the same thing. I get it. Look, I’ll sort it out, okay?” Kei pinched the bridge of his nose, knocking his glasses up his face. “I think Hinata’s phone is dying, it keeps beeping at me…Okay, you too.” He stood up and started to walk back to Hinata, tossing him the phone when he was close enough. “Might want to charge that soon.”

“Is everything okay?” Hinata slipped the phone into his back pocket.

“What were you and Yamaguchi talking about earlier?” Kei asked suspiciously.

“He was checking to make sure you were okay.” Hinata tossed the volleyball back to Kei. “He was worried about you.”

“I see…” Hinata couldn’t tell if Kei actually believed him.

Kei turned the volleyball over in his hands, eyes on the sun guardian.

“But I can’t pretend I didn’t hear my name, so what’s going on?” Hinata pressed.

“I don’t think I can tell you yet.” Kei traced the stitches of the volleyball with his index finger.

“You keep saying that.” Hinata scowled, gesturing for Kei to toss him the volleyball.

“It’s…something that’s not easy for me to say. I’m not sure how to put it into words,” Kei said, turning away from Hinata.

“I mean, I know how you work,” Hinata said. “But tell me soon, okay?”

“Now I’ve got you worried about me.” Kei sighed and tossed the volleyball back to Hinata.

“Always have.” Hinata felt that he was stating the obvious. He looked up into the night sky and said, “At least we have the moon for some light, though.”

“Even an almost full moon isn’t much light out here.” Kei fiddled with the headphones around his neck. “I think it’s time we ate something, anyway.”

“It’s probably getting late, too.” Hinata checked the time on his phone. “Crap, you were right about my phone, though.”

“You should listen to me more often.” Kei smirked.

“I’ve got my power charger in the tent.” Hinata followed Kei back into the tent. “Need yours?”

“I do, but I don’t know where I left it.” Kei frowned, watching as Hinata rummaged through his backpack for his portable charger. He knelt down and shifted through the contents of his own bag. “Tons of headphones, but no charger.”

“What music do you listen to?” Hinata suddenly remembering what Yamaguchi told him. “Can I listen?”

“Why do you ask?” Kei glanced at Hinata over his shoulder. “You’ve never asked about that before.”

“I feel like I should know by now.” Hinata said simply.

“Just promise not to break anything, okay?” Kei pulled his iPod out of his pocket and took off his headphones before handing them both to Hinata.

Hinata nodded, slipping the headphones over his ears, fiddling with the iPod for a few minutes before sitting perfectly still, eyes closed as he focused on the music.

“Don’t like it, huh?” Kei was watching Hinata a few minutes later as the sun guardian opened his eyes and stared at him.

“I do. I didn’t think you’d listen to anything so…” Hinata struggled to find the word.

“Loud?” Kei supplied.

“I guess, yeah.” Hinata nodded. “I really like it, though.”

“Most of my stuff’s a bit quieter, but I like this band in particular.” Kei moved over to where Hinata sat and looked over his shoulder. “I’ve been listening to this one a lot, too.”

“There’s a sort of hopeless longing in this one.” Hinata reached up to adjust the headphones.

“Well look at you analyzing lyrics.” Kei offered him a rare smile. “But I sort of got that impression, too. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.”

“What are you hopelessly longing for?” Hinata looked up at Kei, studying his expression.

“Or who…” Kei said, a hint of sadness touching his voice.

Realizing that Kei wasn’t about to tell him, Hinata changed the subject, feeling more confused than he did before.

“What else is on here?” Hinata knew enough English to understand the basics of the song, but he was a bit lost when it came to the rest of Kei’s music. “You listen to a lot of English music, Kei.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem for you if you could understand the first one.” Kei leaned forward, resting his chin on Hinata’s shoulder.

“Between you and Kenma, my English is a bit better,” Hinata responded, trying to ignore just how close Kei was to him.

“Am I going to be lending you my iPod for the music?” Kei watched as Hinata scrolled through the rest of his music.

“I think so, yes.” Hinata nodded.

“Bring your computer next time and I’ll let you transfer the files.” Kei said.

“Holy crap, that’s even louder than the first!” Hinata winced as the music changed. “Kei, what the hell?”

Kei checked the iPod and said, “Oh yeah, they’re about the loudest thing I’ll listen to.”

“How did you even find them?” Hinata switched to a quieter song by the same band.

“Internet,” Kei said simply. “They’re loud, but I like the metaphors and wordplay.”

“Whatever suits you,” Hinata started to take the headphones off.

“You can keep listening if you want.” Kei leaned back and pulled his bag towards him. “I’m getting food, though.”

“Food does sound pretty good right about now.” Hinata shifted the headphones back to his head. “I have a sandwich and chips, but there’s some ramen from last week’s campout that we never ate.”

“I don’t think it’s so cold that we need ramen yet, do you?” Kei shook his head, pulling a bag of rice-balls out of his backpack. “Oh, and Mom says she made some more of those cookies you like, so I’ll bring them up next time.”

“Awesome!” Hinata grinned. “I love your mom’s cookies.”

“And she wants to know when you’ll be calling her by her name.” Kei bit into one of the rice-balls.

“It feels weird to call her by her name.” Hinata said defensively. “And you don’t call my mom by her name, you know.” He unwrapped his sandwich and started to peel off the crust. “I just think its funny that both of your names mean firefly. Did your parents plan that?”

“Never asked.” Kei thought for a moment.

“It’s still pretty neat though,” Hinata said through a mouthful of sandwich. “And Natsu wants to know if you’ve finished the book yet.”

“Not yet.” Kei pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’ll probably finish it while you’re asleep tonight.”

“She says its weird that we camp out like this all the time,” Hinata added.

“It’s not so bad.” Kei finished off the rice-ball and reached for a second one. “We probably shouldn’t do it so much in the winter, though.”

“It’s okay if we bring lots of fuzzy blankets,” Hinata said.

“You’re not eating the crusts…” Kei looked over to where Hinata was finishing the last of his sandwich.

“The crusts are gross.” Hinata pulled a face.

“And you wonder why you’re so short.” Kei snickered at him.

“Oh, like you always eat the crusts on your toast in the morning.” Hinata scoffed.

“Toast is different.” Kei argued. “It gets all crumby.”

“It’s toast. That’s what it’s meant to do.” Hinata reached for the iPod and changed songs again.

“I didn’t think you’d like my music that much.” Kei dug through his bag and pulled out a thermos of juice. “And hey, is the electric light over there?”

“Just realizing that we’re practically sitting in darkness?” Hinata said, inching back and pulling the lamp out from behind a mountain of pillows and blankets.

“I did wonder…” Kei said, more to himself than to Hinata, reaching forward and pulling the lamp towards him, switching it on.

“Kei, are you feeling okay?” Hinata watched the moon guardian. “You’re really out of it today.”

“Just tired, I think.” Kei nodded, staring at the glowing lamp.

“Yeah, it’s been a pretty emotionally exhausting day.” Hinata had to agree with him. “I mean, I knew you were holding back your emotions, but I didn’t know just how much.”

“That’s probably it.” Kei yawned, curling up under his blankets after kicking off his shoes. “I didn’t mean to make you worry like that.”

“I always worry about you.” Hinata reached for his chips. “That’s what best friends do, right?”

“Yeah…” Hinata couldn’t figure out why Kei’s voice sounded so distant. “But I think I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well today.”

“Too much on your mind?” Hinata asked as he munched on his chips. “Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“I need a find a way to tell you first.” Kei shook his head, turning over so that he was facing Hinata.

“Must be important,” Hinata said.

“It is.” Kei nodded earnestly, taking off his glasses and placing them next to his shoes.

“It’s not like I can go anywhere.” Hinata quickly finished off his chips. “We’re both stuck up here for as long as we live.”

“What a marvelous way of phrasing it.” Kei rolled his eyes.

“Do you think you can watch the moon tonight?” Hinata watched as Kei buried himself underneath the blankets.

“I’ll be okay once I sleep for a bit.” Kei assured him, his eyes meeting Hinata’s. “But why do you keep staring at me?”

“You don’t have your glasses on.” Hinata looked away quickly as he felt his face grow hot.

“You’ve seen me without my glasses before.” Kei frowned.

“Have you ever thought of wearing contacts before?” Hinata asked. “You look really nice without glasses.”

“What?” Kei’s voice was panicked, his eyes growing wide.

“You do!” Hinata could feel his heart jolt.

“No one’s ever told me that before.” Kei turned over onto his stomach, turning his head to the side so he could watch Hinata.

“I mean, you look good with glasses, too.” Hinata wished he could stop talking, but his mouth wouldn’t stop moving.

“So what you’re trying to say is that you like guys with glasses?” Kei smiled mysteriously. “Guess that makes me your type, then.”

“I guess so, yeah.” Hinata had never really thought of it that way.

“Hmm.” Kei hummed, closing his eyes.

“What?” Hinata didn’t like the way Kei was acting.

“Just thinking,” Kei said. “Sorting out some things.”

“Things that involve what type of guy I’m into?” Hinata felt completely bewildered.

“Yes.” Kei’s answer was short and succinct.

“What in the world could you possibly do with that information?” Hinata demanded, sliding the headphones off and putting them with the iPod near Kei’s bag.

“What indeed.” Kei pulled the covers of his sleeping bag closer to his shoulders.

“Kei!” Hinata whined.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.” Kei assured him. “You’ll know soon enough.”

“Wait, Kei, you don’t like me, do you?” Hinata stared at Kei, hoping the blond boy couldn’t hear how loud his heart was beating.

“What would you do if I did?” Kei moved over onto his side, eyes piercing through Hinata’s.

“Why?” Hinata wasn’t sure where Kei was going with the conversation. “I thought you didn’t care about this sort of thing?”

“I don’t.” Kei said.

“Then why are you asking?” Hinata figured there was no turning back since he’d gone this far.

“Have you ever considered that perhaps I’m interested in someone?” Kei’s eyes narrowed.

“Wait, what?” Hinata leaned back. “I thought you said you didn’t care about dating and all that?”

“Dating and being interested in someone are not mutually exclusive,” Kei said.

“But what do I have to do with it?” Hinata questioned.

Kei stared at Hinata for a few seconds before sighing resignedly.

“Just forget it.”

“But you’re kind of-“

“I shouldn’t have mentioned it.” Kei turned over so that he was staring at the other side of the tent.

“You do realize that I can still feel your emotions, right?” Hinata pointed out, crawling into his own sleeping bag.

“Not trying to block you out.” Kei retorted curtly.

“So what’s going on? I’m feeling all sorts of things from you and I don’t know what to make of them.” Hinata reached over and grabbed Kei’s shoulder.

“Like what?” Kei looked over his shoulder.

“Some residual ones from earlier, but there are some new ones. And your heartbeat is going haywire. I mean, I know you’re clearly upset about something, but still.” Hinata leaned forward, touching his forehead to Kei’s. “You’re really afraid of telling me something, but Kei, I can’t read your mind. You have to tell me what’s wrong.”

“You can tell all that?” Kei jumped back, his face bright red.

“I can tell I’m connected, but I don’t know how.” Hinata told him. “I know you won’t tell me if I ask.”

“You’re really important to me,” Kei said.

“But you can’t tell me.” Hinata frowned, leaning back so he was sitting on the balls of his feet.

“It’s because you’re important to me that I can’t tell you.” Kei hoped he was making sense.

“How does that even make sense?” Hinata was used to Kei’s mind working in strange ways, but this was complicated even for him.

“It means that I really have to get it right,” Kei explained slowly. “To be honest, I thought you’d figured it out when you listened to my music earlier. Clearly Yamaguchi’s doing.”

“I guess you saw through that, huh?” Hinata grimaced.

“But it looks like you haven’t figured it out yet.” Kei stared up at the ceiling.

“Or maybe I have and just haven’t told you?” Hinata suggested.

“Nah, you’d make it obvious.” Kei shook his head. “Like when you first realized that Kuroo lives down the street from me.”

“No one ever mentioned it to me before?” Hinata scowled at the memory.

“You’re more obvious than you think.” Kei grinned.

“Then how have you not figured out who this guy is?” Hinata retorted sharply. “Apparently I’ve been plenty obvious about it.”

“Should I know?” Kei looked over at Hinata, the golden eyes curious.

“Maybe?” Hinata couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“But you won’t tell me…” Kei assumed. “Keeping secrets from me?”

“Not big ones.” Hinata knew he wasn’t being completely honest with Kei. “And it’s not like you’re not keeping secrets from me, either.”

“Hmm.” Kei frowned.

“I think we need a time when we can just confess stuff.” Hinata shrugged. “It would probably do us both a lot of good.”

“Sure.” Kei nodded.

“Seriously?” Hinata stared at Kei.

“Might as well.” Kei yawned. “Maybe you’re right. I’ve been trying to figure this out for years and I haven’t found the right way to say it. I guess I just need to say it.” He burrowed himself under the covers. “But not now. I need some sleep.” 

“Y-yeah.” Hinata nodded, adjusting himself so that he was comfortable in his nest of pillows and blankets. “See you in the morning, Kei.”

“Night, Hinata.”

With that, the tent fell silent. Hinata leaned over and switched off the lamp, enveloping the tent in darkness. He leaned back, watching as Kei’s breathing evened out, checking his heartbeat to make sure he was calming down.

Hinata had grown accustomed to the way Kei glowed at night, illuminating the tent in a way that only Hinata would ever see. He loved the way the light would grow brighter when he was upset or angry and more softly when he was sad. In all the years they’d known each other, this was the first time he saw Kei’s light flicker.


End file.
